THREADS OF ADVENTURE!

Understanding Dark Matter: What We Don't Know

2011-05-27T07:17:00.002-05:00

I saw this great video on Boing Boing and thought I'd share in light of the new dark planets discovery. I've read comments on a few sites that the rogue, Jupiter-like planets must help explain the massive amounts of dark matter out there in the universe. Judging by what I've read elsewhere--and this cool animated film--it's more complicated than meets the eye. Stuff like this is part of the reason I love astronomy, it's still new and we still don't know a lot!

Enjoy!

BILLIONS of rogue planets in the Milky Way may outnumber stars!

2011-05-18T16:39:00.010-05:00

Astronomer's have made a startling discovery that there are "hundreds of billions" of orphaned, Jupiter-sized planets in our galaxy. In fact, these free-floating orbs may outnumber the stars! From NYT:

There are two Jupiter-mass planets for each of the 200 billion stars in the Milky Way galaxy, according to measurements and calculations undertaken by an international group of astronomers led by Takahiro Sumi, of Osaka University in Japan, and reported in the journal Nature.

“It’s a bit of a surprise,” said David Bennett, a Notre Dame astronomer, who was part of the team. Before this research, it was thought that only about 10 or 20 percent of stars harbored Jupiter-mass planets. Now it seems as if the planets outnumber the stars.

I wonder if they also have moons like the gas giants in our neck of the woods. At least one of the scientists seems to postulate as much, From Nature:

Planetary scientist David Stevenson at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena has considered how the temperatures on ejected planets might compare with those on star-bound bodies2. If Jupiter were kicked out of the Solar System, its surface temperature would drop by only about 15 kelvin, he says – although it would still be unsuitable for supporting life. However, "when you eject a planet that is quite massive, it could have carried along an orbiting body", Stevenson adds. "And that might be a more attractive possibility for life."

Unbound Earth-mass planets might still be capable of carrying liquid water, Stevenson says, even in the frozen reaches of interstellar space – as long as they have a heat-trapping hydrogen atmosphere. "That can bring the surface temperature up to 300 kelvin [about 27 °C]," he says. "And then you can have oceans."

What's your take on these newly discovered orphan worlds?

Learn more

New York Times article
Nature.com article
National Science Foundation details about the animation
What is a rogue planet?
NASA's PlanetQuest (exoplanet project)
Exoplanets are the Future article on I09 (so much good stuff!)

Some inspriational tools for story ideas...

2011-05-06T20:21:00.000-05:00

I've been updating the Inspiration page of late with a few recent finds. One in particular that I think it really wonderful is the Scirus, a great search tool for science links and information. The site casts a wide net on different disciplines and you can narrow by abstract, articles--event patents.

I used it recently and found an interesting page on Archeology Anomolies, a thorough list of controversial discoveries and topics. I'm not advocating a particular stance here--just pointing out some sources to get the ol' Muse singing in your minds eye. Fair warning, it's long and you'll likely need to Google terms yourself, but it's enough to get you started.

In case that's too geeky, there's a handful of other links I sprinkled in on a variety of history, archeology, science, and other areas of interest. If you've got some you particularly enjoy, feel free to comment below and I'll look at adding them to the Inspiration page. This is a resource I'd like to expand and eventually organize.

Thanks and enjoy!

Amazing Timelapse Video of the Milky Way

2011-05-06T20:06:00.000-05:00

The Mountain from Terje Sorgjerd on Vimeo.

Photography blog Shuttersalt says:

Terje Sorgjerd, the photographer behind the viral video The Aurora, has done it again. Here, Sogjerd captures the Milky Way over El Teide, Spain’s highest mountain.

You can also click through to see how the video was made.

Stunning!

Are you ready for this weekend's SUPERMOON?

2011-03-18T15:43:00.002-05:00

Source SPACE.com: All about our solar system, outer space and exploration

On Saturday, March 19, at 3:00 p.m. Eastern time, the SUPERMOON arrives! The moon will appear bigger due to it's orbit, the moon will appear bigger, brighter, and more beautiful than usual.

From Space.com:

At its peak, the supermoon of March may appear 14 percent larger and 30 percent brighter than lesser full moons (when the moon is at its farthest from Earth), weather permitting. Yet to the casual observer, it may be hard to tell the difference.

The supermoon will not cause natural disasters, such as the Japan earthquake, a NASA scientist has stressed.

That's a relief! There will however be slight effect on ocean tides. For the full story and more moon facts, check out the Space.com.

So get your cameras, binoculars, and telescopes and get out there and have a peek at the largest moon in nearly two decades!

Transylvanian Treasure Horde of Gold Discovered!

2011-03-18T11:40:00.001-05:00

Image: Mihai Barbu, Reuters via National Geographic

Here's a few images of a treasure trove of gold goodies that was unearthed in Transylvania and belonged to the Dacians, an ancient civilization from around the time of the Roman Empire™.

From National Geographic:

Most of the 2,000-year-old accessories tip the scales at about 2.2 pounds (1 kilogram) each, more than some laptops—a heft that materials scientist Paul Craddock found "surprising."

"Yes," Craddock concluded, "they did have a lot of gold."

"They" are the Dacian people, mysterious contemporaries of the ancient Romans. Ruling Transylvania centuries before Bram Stoker dreamed up Dracula, the Dacians left behind no writings but, the bracelets suggest, were apparently flush with treasure—as historians have long suspected, given the mineral wealth of the region's mountains and rivers.

Full story at Nat Geo...

Atlantis finally found in Spain--on land?

2011-03-13T15:17:00.003-05:00

Using satellite imaging of a marshland area north of Caldiz, Spain, researchers believe they may have found the submerged "ringed city" of Atlantis. The findings will be featured on a National Geographic special tonight called Finding Atlantis.

Lead scientist Richard Freund says that Atlantis was wiped out by an ancient tsunami that came inland and "sank" the city. From Yahoo:

"It is just so hard to understand that it can wipe out 60 miles inland, and that's pretty much what we're talking about," said Freund, a University of Hartford, Connecticut, professor who lead an international team searching for the true site of Atlantis.

To solve the age-old mystery, the team used a satellite photo of a suspected submerged city to find the site just north of Cadiz, Spain. There, buried in the vast marshlands of the Dona Ana Park, they believe that they pinpointed the ancient, multi-ringed dominion known as Atlantis.

The team of archeologists and geologists in 2009 and 2010 used a combination of deep-ground radar, digital mapping, and underwater technology to survey the site.

Freund's discovery in central Spain of a strange series of "memorial cities," built in Atlantis' image by its refugees after the city's likely destruction by a tsunami, gave researchers added proof and confidence, he said.

Read the full story at Reuters.

And if Atlantis piques your interest, over at Flooby Nooby (What? that's the title!) there's a great post of 10 lost civilizations that mysterious disappeared.

/props to Boing Boing for the info!
/image: Nat Geo via MSNBC

Africa's Natural Nuclear Reactors

2011-03-11T10:23:00.001-06:00

Image: United States Geological Survey and the Mineral Information Institute via Scientific American

Hat tip to Beam Me Up for finding this unusual story from Scientific American about a cache of uranium in a mine in Oklo (in Gabon) in western Africa that, in prehistoric times, had output a steady stream of energy for thousands of years. Now we're not talking Three-Mile Island here, it's more like 100 kilowatts of energy, but still, I find the idea of a "natural" nuclear power plant really intriguing.

From the Scientific American article by researcher Alex P. Meshik, PhD, who's studied the phenomenon:

Physicists confirmed the basic idea that natural fission reactions were responsible for the depletion in uranium 235 at Oklo quite soon after the anomalous uranium was discovered. Indisputable proof came from an examination of the new, lighter elements created when a heavy nucleus is broken in two. The abundance of these fission products proved so high that no other conclusion could be drawn. A nuclear chain reaction very much like the one that Enrico Fermi and his colleagues famously demonstrated in 1942 had certainly taken place, all on its own and some two billion years before.

Shortly after this astonishing discovery, physicists from around the world studied the evidence for these natural nuclear reactors and came together to share their work on “the Oklo phenomenon” at a special 1975 conference held in Libreville, the capital of Gabon. The next year George A. Cowan, who represented the U.S. at that meeting (and who, incidentally, is one of the founders of the renowned Santa Fe Institute, where he is still affiliated), wrote an article for Scientific American [see “A Natural Fission Reactor,” by George A. Cowan, July 1976] in which he explained what scientists had surmised about the operation of these ancient reactors.

Fascinating! Seems like fodder for a sci-fi story, doesn't it? Ancient astronauts plunder prehistoric earth for natural nuclear energy to power their spaceships and rayguns!

Gorgeous Glacier Cave Photos!

2011-03-10T18:37:00.001-06:00

Now these are straight out of a sci-fi movie--or at least you'd swear they were! Eric Guth, who works for an Alaskan expedition company took some amazing photos of a cavern deep inside an glacier. Here's a few choice shots:

All photos: Eric Guth
Read the full story.
Hat tip to Boing Boing!

Pardon my dust....

2011-03-09T00:25:00.000-06:00

I'm doing a little reformatting, mainly behind the scenes, but also some aesthetic changes. I've had my hands full for a bit with work life as well, which has slowed things down. I expect regular posting to resume withing a week (sooner would be great!).

Lost Sorcery: Medieval Math = Post Apocaplyptic Tech

2010-11-12T14:58:00.000-06:00

An interesting article by Robert Lamb over at "How Stuff Works" talks about how mathematics during Medieval times was really a technology out-of-sync with the times. Interesting food for thought. We talk a lot about these concepts in fiction, but its interesting to hear more real-world examples from throughout human history.

In “The Geometry of Paradise” Mark A. Peterson points out that Dante could easily have excelled as a mathematician had he been born into a time when geometry was more fashionable. Instead Dante lived in an age of languishing mathematics between the Hellenistic period and the 17th century.

“Medieval cultures were in the peculiar condition of being un-mathematical cultures in possession of sophisticated mathematics. They possessed it in the sense of having the books, studying them and translating them, and even doing some mathematics, but they had no clear indication where this rich subject had come from or what it would be good for. They did not know, in our terms at least, what it was.” — Peterson

Oh, and Lamb earns a +1 for including a Jack Vance/Dying Earth reference in the full story!

Full article

Shapeshifting Animals: The Mimic Octopus

2010-11-05T15:37:00.001-05:00

This is pretty mindblowing--an octopus that can changed it's shape, texture, and shading to mimic up to 15 other aquatic creatures. Truly fascinating! It gets REALLY wicked around 1:20, but you'll want to watch the whole video anyway.

Wikipedia article
Props to Scuttlefish!

NASA, DARPA: Colonization is a 1-Way Trip, Sign Up Now!

2010-11-02T09:48:00.003-05:00

NASA and DARPA (it's not just a made-up shadow org from Lost!) want you to know that they're ready to colonize space. They're collaborating on a joint venture to develop a 100-year spaceship that would take humanity into the firmament and establish permanent, extra terrestrial human colonies.

From Pop Sci:

"The human space program is now really aimed at settling other worlds,” Worden [a guy at NASA] said, according to a Singularity University blog that covered the event. “Twenty years ago you had to whisper that in dark bars and get fired.” (Worden added that he was fired by President George W. Bush.)

Rock collecting would be a big hobby on Mars! Image: NASA.

Love that last part. So the real question here is: would the settlers ever get a chance to come home? No.
Next question. Seriously, this means they're shipping your ass off to MARS, some moon to be terraformed, or some inhabitable exoplanet, packing a lunch, and leaving you at the door of the school house. Forever.

They'll totally send you care packages of raw materials, equipment, and Soylent Green though. Hopefully, FedEx has a Red Planet

They would get periodic supply missions, but they would be expected to fend for themselves for water, shelter, nutrients and mineral/chemical processing. They would be expected to develop some kind of homegrown Martian industry, which could ultimately serve as a hub for an expanded colonization program. Plus, leaving some people on another planet would probably ensure that we’d want to go back, to visit them and see what they created.

Such a mission would save money, the authors say, because the prohibitive costs (in dollars and payload) of a manned Mars mission are mostly associated with bringing the astronauts home.

Oh, and that last point is the main reason it's a one-way gig--cost. See, coming back is expensive, and it's easier to cut costs if you just stay put. But you'll be a totally cool SPACE PIONEER. And a HERO to all humanity.

So....not you've got that going for you!

UPDATE: I added a video of NASA's Pete Worden speaking about the project
Full article on Pop Sci
Tip of the hat to Boing Boing for providing some keen perspective and daring people to sign up!
Another article at MSNBC

Video of Mysterious Undersea Creature Baffles Scientists

2010-10-14T13:42:00.000-05:00

Pink Tentacle posits it might be a Ningen of Japanese urban legend--a blubbery, underwater humanoid! Apparently Ningen live in the icy waters of the Antarctic. This one was sighted southwest of Tokyo in the Sagami Bay.

Lots of weird sealife, but the guest of honor makes its creepy appearance begins after 1:20. Ningen on Wikipedia.

/props to Boing Boing

Exoplanet found in habitable zone!

2010-09-30T12:56:00.000-05:00

Artist's rendering of Gliese 581-g via Wired

Book your flights now kids, the first Earth-like exoplanet found in a "Goldilocks" or habitable zone has been discovered! Gliese 581-g is just 20 light years from us (that's right around the corner, right?) and is just the right amount of distance from it's parent star to have liquid water--a main ingredient for life here on Earth.

Click to enlarge; image: National Science Foundation

From the BBC:

"Our findings offer a very compelling case for a potentially habitable planet," said Steven Vogt, an astronomer at UCSC.

"The fact that we were able to detect this planet so quickly and so nearby tells us that planets like this must be really common."

Gliese 581g has a mass about three to four times that of Earth. It orbits its sun in 37 days and is thought to be a rocky world. It has enough gravity to possibly have an atmosphere.

The surface temp is estimated to be between 10F/-12C and 24F/-31C (so don't pack your speedo just yet). So think of it more like...

Don't worry, they double as sleeping bags.

Actually, that might not be the case. Seems that the planet is bigger than Earth and closer to it's star so it may not rotate--making it scorching hot on one side, colder than Hoth on the other. But a temperate equatorial zone may exist to sustain life. From Wired:

The new planet is about three times the mass of Earth, which indicates it is probably rocky and has enough surface gravity to sustain a stable atmosphere. It orbits its star once every 36.6 Earth days at a distance of just 13 million miles.

The surface of a planet that close to our sun would be scorching hot. But because the star Gliese 581 is only about 1 percent as bright as the sun, temperatures on the new planet should be much more comfortable. Taking into account the presence of an atmosphere and how much starlight the planet probably reflects, astronomers calculated the average temperature ranges from minus 24 degrees to 10 degrees above zero Fahrenheit.

But the actual temperature range is even wider, says astronomer Steven Vogt of the University of California, Santa Cruz, who designed some of the instruments that helped find the planet. Gravity dictates that such a close-in planet would keep the same side facing the star at all times, the same way the moon always shows the same face to Earth.

That means the planet has a blazing-hot daytime side, a frigid nighttime side, and a band of eternal sunrise or sunset where water — and perhaps life — could subsist comfortably. Any life on this exotic world would be confined to this perpetual twilight zone, Vogt says, but there’s room for a lot of diversity.

Great, now let's build us a starfleet and get going!

More from BBC, Wired, Washington Post, MSNBC, NY Times, and LA Times

Triceratops no more: dinosaur actually a different species

2010-07-30T10:41:00.000-05:00

Jimmy remembers a better time, before Kota's deceit and inevitable betrayal.

Turns out that staple of grade-school science is just a phase of growth in another dino's life cycle: the torosaurus. Or maybe it's the either way around. Whatever the case, trike and toro are the same beast at different points in their now singular life. Turns out the frill was the shill--the large frill that adorns the rear of the animals' skulls is not a sign that they were two different species, but the frill itself changed as they matured.

Image: Montana State University
via New Scientist, click to enlarge

The differences in each species (from New Scientist):

Triceratops had three facial horns and a short, thick neck-frill with a saw-toothed edge. Torosaurus also had three horns, though at different angles, and a much longer, thinner, smooth-edged frill with two large holes in it. So it's not surprising that Othniel Marsh, who discovered both in the late 1800s, considered them to be separate species.

So how did the change occur?

This extreme shape-shifting was possible because the bone tissue in the frill and horns stayed immature, spongy and riddled with blood vessels, never fully hardening into solid bone as happens in most animals during early adulthood. The only modern animal known to do anything similar is the cassowary, descended from the dinosaurs, which develops a large spongy crest when its skull is about 80 per cent fully grown.

Shape-shifting continued throughout these dinosaurs' lives, Scannella says. "Even in the most mature specimens that we've examined, there is evidence that the skull was still undergoing dramatic changes at the time of death.

First Pluto's not a planet, now triceratops isn't...a triceratops! Honestly, it's fascinating to think that we've perceived them as two different animals for decades. Sure it all sounds like a "well, duh!" moment, but think about how many animals we see every day that go through similar changes and we never think twice--a butterfly for instance.

Triceratops wasn't the only casualty, as you can tell by the image, old bone-head pachycephalosaurus is another transforming dinobot--er, saur. This new theory could extend to several other species as well.

Hopefully none of the differences in the frills or horns will effect our ability to saddle them with lasers.

Get the full story from New Scientist.
Also at Live Science.

Hat tip to Boing Boing, and the wonderful Maggie Koerth-Baker who's insight and commentary is always spot-on (and fun!).

Real live Hydra: two-headed, albino snake!

2010-07-01T23:30:00.000-05:00

STEP RIGHT UP and feast your eyes on the slithering wonder--a diamond in the rough--an albino aberration with not one but TWO, HUNGRY HEADS! The mighty Hercules himself would feign at the sight of a such a sinister serpent!

Or so the story might go from the Venice Beach freak show proprieter who ponied up a cool $20k for this dual-headed hognose, appropriately called Lenny and Squiggly. It's rarity is enhanced by the genetic crap-shoot that is albinism. Apparently bicephalic animals suffer from many ailments which tend to significantly shorten their lifespans. The snake(s) is/are only 9 months old, but the owner has hopes it will live long and bring him a windfall. From The Examiner:

Like many two-headed snakes, both of their heads are fully functional and independent, though one of them exerts a far greater control over the body. Conjoined animals like Lenny and Squiggly often of difficulty moving due to conflicting orders from the two heads, making survival in the wild all but impossible. Life in captivity fares little better, though several animals have lived their full lifespans.

Not to second guess the founders of Western civilization, but these guys are almost too cute to really be a threat to Mediterranean demigods. Almost (they are snakes after all). Hognoses can be kept as "exotic pets," and it would seem their new owner has hit the mother lode.

Full story..
Also on Boing Boing with video...

Egyptian gods ever present in 40+ tombs with mummies

2010-06-28T01:05:00.000-05:00

Image: Supreme Council of Antiquities / Associated Press via MSNBC

Scenes of Horus, Hathor, Khnum and Amun, decorated as many as 57 ornately carved sarcophagi found, recently unearthed in Egypt. The tombs date back as far as 2750 B.C. and give researchers a glimpse into the religious rites of ancient Egyptians. From MSNBC:

Egypt's archaeology chief, Zahi Hawass, said the mummies dating to the 18th Dynasty are covered in linen decorated with religious texts from the Book of the Dead and scenes featuring ancient Egyptian deities. Abdel Rahman El-Aydi, head of the archaeological mission that made the discovery, said some of the tombs are decorated with religious texts that ancient Egyptians believed would help the deceased to cross through the underworld. El-Aydi said one of the oldest tombs is almost completely intact, with all of its funerary equipment and a wooden sarcophagus containing a mummy wrapped in linen.

...a little more detail from ABC News, plus a gallery of photos from Heritage-Key.com, like the one below. Each article had the total number of tombs between 43 and 57, it wasn't exactly clear why there was a discrepancy (just FYI).

Image: Supreme Council of Antiquities via Heritage-Key

MSNBC's story...

Massive flash floods in Canada made for Dinopocalypse

2010-06-25T14:31:00.000-05:00

Swim little dinos! Swim for your lives! Image: Michael Skrepnick / Royal Tyrrell Museum via MSNBC.

Fact: The Canadian province of Alberta is lousy with dinosaur fossils. Like, so many dino bones that it's embarrassing. This perplexes paleontologists.

At least it did until now. Looks like researchers have found the reason for the massive centrasaur graveyard in Western Canadia--a mega storm comparable to our hurricanes wiped them out in one fell swoop. They lived in what was once a large coastal area, which are now fossil beds. The beasts were roughly cattle-sized and when the storm came in, it brought massive flooding and the poor guys couldn't treat water. As if taking an asteroid the bread basket wasn't bad enough! From MSNBC:

Coastal floodplains such as those seen in modern Bangladesh can cover vast areas, with flooding killing hundreds of thousands of livestock, not to mention the human tragedies that occur. "Because of their size and the scale of the flooding, dinosaurs could not escape the coastal floodwaters and would have been killed in large numbers," Eberth explained. "In contrast, fish, small reptiles, mammals, and birds may have been able to escape such seasonal catastrophes by retreating to quiet water areas, the safety of trees and burrows, or simply by flying away."

So what can we take away from this? Take swimming lessons? Not sure. But the picture is a heartbreaker, isn't it?

The full story...

Damn Dirty Murdering Apes!

2010-06-23T12:00:00.000-05:00

"We'll use banana peels. Make it look like an accident."

Looks like we've been living on the Planet of the Apes all along--chimpanzees are no better than their human cousins when it comes to whacking a competitor for more territory. Actual killing are rare, as researchers counted 21 in decade, but their studies in Ngogo, Kibale National Park in Uganda yielded some fascinating resutls. From MSNBC:

After some of these neighboring competitors were dispatched with, the researchers observed the Ngogo chimpanzees beginning to use a large portion of new territory to the northeast of their previous range. That piece of evidence allowed the researchers to link the murders with a motive – that of gaining new ground.

Though well-organized, chimps aren't know for their individual bravery...

"Patrollers are quiet and move with stealth," Mitani said. "They pause frequently to scan the environment as they search for other chimpanzees. Attacks are typically made only when patrolling chimpanzees have overwhelming numerical superiority over their adversaries."

If they re-boot PotA they should consider casting James Gandolfini as Cornelius. Just sayin'.

Full story.

Another little known primate fact:
Orangutans are the escape artists of the primate family. Seriously.

Funky fungus puts hair on your chest

2010-06-22T17:44:00.000-05:00

Don't blame me--blame the Associated Press for this awful pic, via IO9

Or at least that's what grown ups used to say to me to get me eat things that looked repulsive. I'm not sure why they thought that would work. All I know is there's nothing anyone could say to get me to eat this stuff. It's just about exactly what zombie brains would look like if I had to imagine them without the benefit of this horrifying photo.

According to a new study (or a really disgusting practical joke) the stuff is called "corn smut" (classy!) and contains lots of nutrients for making your bones healthy and your skin young and fresh. Sounds like a pact with the devil you say? Irony is way ahead of you my friends--it's also known as (gulp!) DEVIL'S CORN!

IO9 has the dirt on the fungi. Or something.

In Mexico, the fungus is called huitlacoche, and it's already considered a delicacy. But U.S. farmers, and the U.S. government, have spent millions of dollars to eradicate the blight and develop "smut-resistant strains" of corn.

It also has...

....beta-glucens, a soluble fiber that helps you cut your cholesterol. So it's actually better for you, and could turn out to be more valuable on the market, than the corn it "ruins."

Yeah, don't be surprised if it takes a while to catch on. Like never!

More corn smut info than you can burn off with gasoline
Here's a guy who was crazy enough to taste it out a can (it comes in cans?!)

A choice quote from the Steve Don't Eat It! series of posts on The Sneeze:

Don't worry, I checked the ingredients before I tasted it. "Smoker's lung" was not on there. Before I even got the whole can open, I detected a vague aroma of sweet corn, along with what I can only describe as a deep musky funk. Put 'em together and it smells like corn that forgot to wipe.

Wow. Be sure to check out his site for even more repugnant photos and all the gory details. Bon Appetite!

Space Junk Threatens to Smash Us to Bits!

2010-06-15T00:19:00.000-05:00

Image: space junk that fell to Earth on a farm in Australia in 2008. Ouch! Via: Sydney Morning Herald

Well judging by what the news has to say, there's plenty of actual space junk to keep me inspired for many more Random Space Finds posts. NASA even set up an office and full-time junk tracker to keep an eye on all that detrius. Wired has an excellent feature story on the pollution of space--at least that space immediately around our planet and the man charged with tracking it all, Donald Kessler. He wrote a paper clinching the argument for keeping one eye on the sky that painted a "nightmare scenario". Here's some choice quotes:

Spent satellites and other space trash would accumulate until crashes became inevitable. Colliding objects would shatter into countless equally dangerous fragments, setting off a chain reaction of additional crashes. “The result would be an exponential increase in the number of objects with time,” he wrote, “creating a belt of debris around the Earth.”

At age 38, Kessler had found his calling. Not that his bosses had encouraged him to look into the issue—”they didn’t like what I was finding,” he recalls. But after the paper came out, NASA set up the Orbital Debris Program Office to study the problem and put Kessler in charge. He spent the rest of his career tracking cosmic crap and forming alliances with counterparts in other nations in an effort to slow its proliferation. His description of a runaway cascade of collisions—which he predicted would happen in 30 to 40 years—became known as the Kessler syndrome.

Image: actual map of space junk orbiting our Pig Pen-like planet, via Discovery.com

Kessler is now in his 70s and he was of course proven frighteningly correct. And just in case you were skeptical about how much space crap is floating around up there:

The operations center moved quickly to double its computer capacity. By early 2010, it was keeping a close eye on 1,000 active satellites, 3,700 inactive satellites and rocket pieces, and another 15,300 objects the size of a fist or larger—a level of awareness that revealed a much higher daily average of 75 possible collisions. And that’s ignoring the danger posed by the estimated half-million smaller pieces of debris the size of a marble or larger. Too small to track from the ground, each of those tiny projectiles is capable of severely damaging a satellite.

There's even a testing range in White Sands, NM that tests how dangerous our leftovers in the black can be:

...technicians operate a cannon that uses gunpowder and pressurized hydrogen to fire plastic slugs at shields and panels. Just like real space junk, the projectiles can approach speeds of 5 miles per second. [Emphasis mine, as if it need it!]

Duck and cover folks!

Read the whole, fascinating article on Wired.com.
Oh, and a quick rundown on Discovery.com about what the government plans to do about it.
Here's more on that poor guy in Australia pictured above.

50+ Ways to Die in a Cave

2010-05-20T11:27:00.000-05:00

Snakes, why is it always snakes? Hey, that's no. 44!

To be precise, it's 52 Ways to Die in a Cave by author James M. Tabor. Personal favorites:

30. Animals eat rope (easy, just cover the rope in poison!)
29. Chemical contamination of rope (doh!)
32. Hair caught in rappel rack (ow.)
42. Asphyxiation by methane, carbon dioxide, blast fumes, etc. (Death by blast fumes! \m/ )
45. Struck by lightning while in cave stream (really? that can happen?)
27. Rappel into pit without ascent gear (this is a metaphor for a lot of things actually)
18. Rope cut by falling rock (that's just so unfair)

...and #52 (drum roll, please!)....

Stuck in crevice! (how perfectly banal)

And then there's a disturbingly great amount of ways to die by whatever crappy gear you've brought along that failed to secure/protect you. Great.

Via Boing Boing.

What you should be watching: documentary TV as inspiration

2010-05-07T16:53:00.000-05:00

I'm an unabashed lover of science and historical documentaries on TV, be they productions of PBS, the History Channel, Discovery, the Science Channel, etc. There's a lot out there these days to draw inspiration from--even the wacko programs on Ancient Aliens and Nostradamus that are filled with pseudoscience and the weakest of "facts" are still fun "info-tainment". I thought I'd share a list of my favorites along the spectrum of fact, fiction, and things-in-between:

Hard science and world-renown experts...

The Universe (History Channel)
Chock full of great topics with experts like Neil Degrasse, director of the Hayden Planetarium at the Museum of Natural History / Rose Space Center in NYC.

NOVA (PBS)
Speaking of Dr. Degrasse, he hosts PBS's most venerable, and longest-running science program. Never disappointing and Dr. D is probably one of the most enigmatic hosts since the late Dr. Sagan.

How the Earth Was Made (History Channel)
Another wonderful show focusing on more than geology or volcanology but really a whole slew of Earth sciences (meteorology, oceanography, biology, thermo-dynamics, etc.). My favorite so far has been the recent episode on Iceland (timely!) which described the birth of the island of Surtsey in 1963, off the southern coast. An island the literally "arrived" via volcanic gestation.

Into the Universe with Stephen Hawking (Discovery Channel)
Arguably the smartest man in the (known) universe, Dr. Hawking has made quite a splash in recent episodes of his program about extra-terrestrials and the search for life in the universe. Into the Universe is a fantastic program that gives the topic of cosmology the beauty, grace, and raw intellect it so much deserves.

Planet Earth (Discovery Channel / BBC)
One of my all-time favorite programs. I own the DVD and it's spectacular documentation of the natural world at this time in history is superb. It sets a new standard in TV documentaries not only in cinematography but in scope--covering every continent and type of environment the planet has to offer. From Wikipedia:

To capture all the footage required by the producers, 71 cameramen and women filmed in 204 locations in 62 countries on all seven continents, spending more than 2000 days in the field

If there is any program here you must see, this is the one. A sequel series Life is now airing on Discovery in the US.

Speculative, but still credible...

Life After People (History Channel)
By now you've likely figured that I watch too much History Channel, and while I can't completely deny that, most of these episodes I caught on On-Demand. This program takes current pop-culture's post-apocalyptic fascination and tries to visualize for the viewer what a post-people world would look like months, years, centuries, and millennia after we're long gone. A really intriguing topic with plenty of credible experts in the Earth sciences as well as metallurgists and investigative experts.

Cities of the Underworld (History Channel)
This is another great show that's filled with plenty of factual and historical background on underground hideouts, lairs, tunnels, and more, hosted by actor Dan Wildman. I've put it into "speculative" if only because many of the wonderful stories are often based on a combination of myths and local legends--to be fair though an expert archeologist is always featured. The show was recently discontinued on the History Channel, but I'm certain it will pop up (if it hasn't already) on DVD soon.

Hardly credible, fun as hell...

Ancient Aliens (History Channel)
This show wanders dutiful (and happily, I might add!) into science fiction territory, but it's filled with so many great ideas--and so well constructed that it's impossible not to watch. My only regret is that the network's current audience may take much of this for fact. Frankly, I've gone to bed paranoid a few times already! ;)

Honorable mention...

Sci Fi Science: Physics of the Impossible (Science Channel)
I've only watched an episode or two online since we don't dropped the Science Channel from our subscription package (I still miss it...) but Sci Fi Science has a lot to appreciate in the way of using the hard sciences to explain how science fiction concepts could work. File this under "speculative" if you need to put it on the spectrum. It's hosted by Dr. Michio Kaku one of the world's leading astro-physicists and author of one of my favorite cosmology books, Parallel Worlds: A Journey Through Creation, Higher Dimensions, and the Future of the Cosmos. He's the Science Channel's default host for many of their mainline shows, including a series that previously aired on the topic of his book.

Ancient Monster Hunters (History Channel)
One of my favorite single-episode docs that traces the origins of the mythological beasts such as the cyclopes, and griffins in antiquity as told through the paleontologists, archeologists, geologists, and biologists who've done the dirty work. The griffin segment is particular fascinating. It airs occasionally, but your best bet is to monster-hunt a copy down.

This is just a sampling of what's out there to gorge your eyeballs on. I'm a big fan of ancient history (particularly Egyptian) as well as paleontology--and there's just too many to name, including many one-off specials--but hopefully this list gets you started. So, what are your favorite documentary programs to pull ideas from for stories, games, or whatever gets your gears turning?

Let us know in the comments!

Hawking: Alien contact "risky" for humans, death rays hard to duck

2010-04-26T23:36:00.000-05:00

Hawking: avoid space aliens

Smartest guy in the known universe and all around inspiration, Stephen Hawking, has a message for everyone wanting to dial up aliens on the galactic party line: don't. On his new Discovery Channel series, Into the Universe with Stephen Hawking, the good professor warns that aliens might really be of the Hollywood variety. From ABC News:

"If aliens visit us, the outcome would be much as when Columbus landed in America, which didn't turn out well for the Native Americans," he said. "We only have to look at ourselves to see how intelligent life might develop into something we wouldn't want to meet."

Read the rest and then find a table to hide under (not that it would help...)

Night vision glasses, cell phone cameras on the way!

2010-04-26T18:49:00.000-05:00

Not-so-light-weight night vision...

Well, while scientists are still perfecting personal jet packs and flying cars, they've managed to whip up a few other goodies, namely, night vision in your prescription glasses using a film developed for flat screen TVs. MSNBC is on a roll with technology posts today:

Most night vision devices today use massive amounts of electricity — often several thousand volts, according to So — and heavy, glass lenses that maintain a vacuum to make the night come alive. So's device takes a radically different turn, replacing glass with thin plastic, eliminating the vacuum and using energy-efficient, organic LEDs.

Oh, let's just cut to the cool part already:

In other words, heavy and bulky night vision goggles could be replaced with a thin, lightweight coating weighing less than half a deck of playing cards.

According to the article it should take about a year-and-a-half to apply the new tech to car windshields, lightweight night vision eyeglasses and mobile devices.

Space "Taxis" Make for Cheaper, Less Complicated Flights

2010-04-26T18:32:00.000-05:00

Image: Boeing

The future of spaceflight is streamlined, cheap flights with no need for bells and whistles--like say, airlocks. MSNBC analyst James Oberg has a great piece on how private space corporations are aiming for inexpensive vehicles that get astronauts from point a to point b without having to spend a lot of time in orbit or performing other tasks. Since the main mission would be immediately dock with a space station or ship already in orbit, NASA and other agencies are looking at vehicles akin to the Soyuz class capsules or something similar to the Gemini/Mercury programs that the US sent up in the 60s. Oberg puts up a few design suggestions of his own:

Electrical power? Batteries are fine — recharge when you reach the station, or if you can’t, land immediately. No solar panels, no fuel cells, nothing complex or exotic.
Navigation? Big radar dishes, even complex transponders, are unnecessary, with differential GPS navigation now the baseline for most flying all over the planet.
Spacewalking? No need, so no airlock, either. At most, the crew would wear in-cabin pressure suits such as those used on Soyuz missions.
Passenger accommodations? Room for each passenger in a foldaway seat, and space to turn around if desired would be more than adequate for the short flight. No exercise equipment would be needed. No DVD library.
Hygiene? A maximum of 24 hours of independent flight suggests a minimum toilet (or just Apollo-era plastic bags with sticky openings). Or low-residue pre-launch diets, and diapers.
Passenger comforts? None. Forget hot food and a complex galley. Box lunches will do. Forget even windows, except for the pilot’s view forward at docking. There need only be minimal carry-on luggage — a take-aboard allowance that would make today’s commercial airlines seem generous.
Bulky docking hardware? These mechanically robust components are often a significant fraction of a spaceship’s weight, but the space station can also now grapple a nearby vehicle and emplace it gently on the desired berthing interface.

Read the full article...
Boeing has it's own design for future capsules (as pictured above)

4,000-Year-Old Euro Mummies Found in... China?!

2010-04-16T14:30:00.000-05:00

Image: Liu Yu Sheng via New York Times

A cemetery of 200 mummy's from four millennia ago has been discovered in the Xinjiang of China (north of Tibet)--extremely well preserved thanks to the arid air of the Gobi Desert. The rest of the story is so weird that the NYT does better than I ever could at recounting. From the New York Times:

Their remains, though lying in one of the world’s largest deserts, are buried in upside-down boats. And where tombstones might stand, declaring pious hope for some god’s mercy in the afterlife, their cemetery sports instead a vigorous forest of phallic symbols, signaling an intense interest in the pleasures or utility of procreation.

Of course! How else can you find a cemetery of mummies under a pile of boats? There's more...

The 200 or so mummies have a distinctively Western appearance, and the Uighurs, even though they did not arrive in the region until the 10th century, have cited them to claim that the autonomous region was always theirs. Some of the mummies, including a well-preserved woman known as the Beauty of Loulan, were analyzed by Li Jin, a well-known geneticist at Fudan University, who said in 2007 that their DNA contained markers indicating an East Asian and even South Asian origin.

The mummies in the Small River Cemetery are, so far, the oldest discovered in the Tarim Basin. Carbon tests done at Beijing University show that the oldest part dates to 3,980 years ago. A team of Chinese geneticists has analyzed the mummies’ DNA.

Full story.....

What we all feared: jellyfish are immortal

2010-04-15T08:21:00.000-05:00

A species of jellyfish, Turritopsis nutricula, may be the world's only known immortal species, according to scientists. Apparently the hydrozoan can vacillate between youth (polyp) and adult stages of growth--prolonging it's unusual, eldritch existence. From WorldHealth.net:

Through this process - called transdifferentiation - the jellyfish is able to return to its polyp state, the first stage of the life of a jellyfish. During transdifferentiation, its cells can become completely transformed. For example, a muscle cell could become a nerve cell - even an egg. The jellyfish then reproduces asexually and breed hundreds of jellyfish that are identical to the original adult. This process can be repeated - again and again, but only as an emergency measure. As Dr Maria Miglietta of the Smithsonian Tropical Marine Institute says, "We are looking at a worldwide silent invasion."

Upside: they're the size of a human pinky fingernail
Downside: THEY'RE IMMORTAL!!

Read the full story...
Also at TimesOnline

Two-Story Tall Fungus Fossils Found

2010-04-14T14:00:00.000-05:00

Image: Mary Parrish via MSNBC

Researchers say that waaaay back in the Silurian and Devonian periods (350-420 million years ago....you remember those from science class, right?) the world's largest fungus grew to around 26 feet tall--about the size of modern telephone poles. The fungus, called Prototaxites, was about the width of a tree trunk. From MSNBC:

"The above-ground structure -- what actually gets preserved as a fossil -- would have been involved in spore dispersal, like a mushroom," he added. "For that purpose, the higher off the ground you can get, the farther spores will travel on the wind."

He and his colleagues first began to suspect Prototaxites was a fungus and not a plant after they analyzed carbon isotopes in its fossils. These remaining carbon atoms can suggest what existing, and once-living, organisms ate. Boyce explained that since plants derive their energy from the sun and its carbon from carbon dioxide in the air, the carbon isotope signatures for plants tend to look the same.

Kinda cool, let's face it, also kinda creepy!
Full article....

Scientists Discover Micro-organisms That Don't Need Oxygen

2010-04-12T14:00:00.000-05:00

Image: R. Danovaro et al., BMC Biology

Okay, this is getting nerdy, but it's still cool. (Science is ALWAYS cool!). Researchers have discovered the first micro-organism (animal) that doesn't need oxygen to survive. The organism dubbed Loricifera, was found on the L'Atalante basin in the Mediterranean.From Science American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS):

The creature's cells apparently lack mitochondria, the organelles that use oxygen to power a cell. Instead they are rich in what seem to be hydrogenosomes, organelles that can do a similar job in anaerobic (or oxygen free) environments. The find could help scientists understand what life might have looked like in the earth's early oceans, which also had very little oxygen.

Read the full story...

New "Goldilocks" exoplanet discovered

2010-04-07T11:48:00.000-05:00

Image: Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias via ScienceNews

The first observable exoplanet, within an "Goldilocks Zone" has been discovered! This is a HUGE discovery as planets within the zone are considered excellent candidates for supporting life due to their not-too-close/not-to-far distance from their parent star. This "just right" distance allows for liquid water to exist on the surface--making for a comfy environment for life to flourish.

The planet, a gas giant roughly the size of Jupiter or Saturn, is designated as COROT-9b, but it's thought that if Jupiter can have moons, then why not COROT? The moons could be habitable, even if the main planet is not.

While other Goldilocks planets have been discovered, COROT is a diamond in the rough because it's much more easily observable from Earth. From ScienceNews:

Although a number of extrasolar planets with moderate temperatures have been discovered, only a planet that passes in front of — or transits — its star can be studied in depth. The starlight that filters through the atmosphere of the planet during each passage reveals the orb’s composition, while the amount of starlight that is blocked outright indicates the planet’s size.

All the other transiting planets seen so far have been “weird — inflated and hot” because they orbit so close to their stars, notes study collaborator Didier Queloz of the Geneva Observatory in Sauverny, Switzerland. Deeg, Queloz, and their colleagues report their findings in the March 18 Nature.

The planet is 1,500 light years away (in the constellation Serpens), so it will be a while before we get to stop in on the neighbors and say hello!

Read the full article.

NYT: "Large Hadron Collider Finally Smashing Properly"

2010-03-30T12:06:00.000-05:00

Best headline of the week (so far) and best nerd news all around! From the Grey Lady:

Following two false starts due to electrical failures, protons whipped to more than 99 percent of the speed of light and to energy levels of 3.5 trillion electron volts apiece around a 17-mile underground magnetic racetrack outside of Geneva a little after 1 p.m. local time. They crashed together inside apartment-building sized detectors designed to capture every evanescent flash and fragment from microscopic fireballs thought to hold insights into the beginning of the world.

The soundless blooming of proton explosions was accompanied by the hoots and applause of scientists crowded into control rooms at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, which built the collider. The relief spread to bleary gatherings of particle physicists all around the world, who have collectively staked the future of their profession on the idea that the new collider will eventually reveal new secrets of the universe, like the identity of the dark matter that shapes the visible cosmos and the strange particle known as the “Higgs,” which is thought to imbue other particles with mass. Until now, these have been tantalizingly out of reach.

Congrats to the scientists at CERN. Send them a thank you that we may now all enter our own personal pocketverses.

Full New York Times article

Newly discovered species of humans in Siberia

2010-03-29T18:07:00.000-05:00

Archeologists publishing in the journal Nature, have discovered the 40,000 year-old pinky bone of what appears to be a new species of human--in Siberia. (Actually, it's southern Siberia, but it's still SIBERIA). A DNA analysis revels that the, uh, owner--was neither directly related to humans or neanderthals of the era, but more likely a distinct offshoot of humans. From USAToday:

Analysis of the pinky bone discovered in a dirt layer about 40,000 years old yielded enough DNA for the gene study. It shows the creature's ancestry diverged from humans and Neanderthals roughly 1 million years ago. Dubbed "x-woman" by the researchers, despite its undetermined gender, the pinky owner may have belonged to an archaic human species such as Homo erectus or Homo heidelbergensis, known only from fossils, or an unknown pre-human species. From the size of the pinky tip, the team estimates its owner was a 5- or 6-year-old child.

Check out the full article or the article at Nature.com. Sharp readers will note that the image found at USAToday is a bit misleading as the pinky belonged to a child and the image is of an already known hominid.

Previously: Hobbits Discovered!

Evidence of stone age sailors discovered

2010-02-19T03:56:00.000-06:00

Image: Nicholas Thompson and Chad DiGregorio via New York Times

Stone tools dating back to circa 100,000 years (or more) ago have been discovered on the island of Crete, indicating prehistoric sailors visited the island long before the Greeks became Ancient History, according to two new findings. From the New York Times:

Previous artifact discoveries had shown people reaching Cyprus, a few other Greek islands and possibly Sardinia no earlier than 10,000 to 12,000 years ago.The oldest established early marine travel anywhere was the sea-crossing migration of anatomically modern Homo sapiens to Australia, beginning about 60,000 years ago. There is also a suggestive trickle of evidence, notably the skeletons and artifacts on the Indonesian island of Flores, of more ancient hominids making their way by water to new habitats.Even more intriguing, the archaeologists who found the tools on Crete noted that the style of the hand axes suggested that they could be up to 700,000 years old. That may be a stretch, they conceded, but the tools resemble artifacts from the stone technology known as Acheulean, which originated with prehuman populations in Africa.

More than 2,000 artifacts were recovered from the site, so this appears to be a mega find re-writing the history books. And in what qualifies as best sci-fi inspiring quote from the article:

“We were flummoxed,” Dr. Runnels said in an interview. “These things were just not supposed to be there.”

Indeed! But still amazingly cool that these things not only existed, but in huge numbers. Now wouldn't it be cool if they discovered Atlantis and Lemuria! ;)

Read the full story...

Reptoids of the Los Angeles Undergound!

2010-02-10T09:37:00.000-06:00

So here's a plug-n-play RPG adventure if there ever was one. Man claims there's an entire underground city of lizard people living under LA and maps it. Cool, huh? The map above is an artifact from the 1930s and a product geophysicist mining engineer, G. Warren Shufelt. There's your adventure module right there--map and all! Reptoids.com, a reptilian alien tracking site (I'm not joking) has reprinted the original 1934 LA Times article that gives an overview of this strange legend:

So firmly does Shufelt and a little staff of assistants believe that a maze of catacombs and priceless golden tablets are to be found beneath downtown Los Angeles that the engineer and his aids have already driven a shaft 250 feet into the ground, the mouth of the shaft being on the old Banning property on North Hill street, overlooking Sunset Boulevard, Spring street and North Broadway.
And so convinced is the engineer of the infallibility of a radio x-ray perfected by him for detecting the presence of minerals and tunnels below the surface of the ground, an apparatus with which he says he has traced a pattern of catacombs and vaults forming the lost city, that he plans to continue sending his shaft downward until he has reached a depth of 1000 feet before discontinuing operations.

It gets better, apparently the lizard people dug the catacombs with chemicals after a great fire that scorched the Earth....5,000 years ago.

Large rooms in the domes of the hills above the city of labyrinths housed 1000 families "in the manner of tall buildings" and imperishable food supplies of the herb variety were stored in the catacombs to provide sustenance for the Lizard folk for great length of time as the next fire swept over the earth.

Cool! Get the round up of links from Boing Boing.

Crystal meteorite has crunchy nougat center harder than diamond

2010-02-03T00:44:00.000-06:00

Scientists recently discovered that crystals inside a meteorite that fell to Earth (Finland, actually) in 1971 are actually harder than diamonds. Harder than diamond substances have been created in laboratory settings by combining other substances (boron or nitrogen seem to be en vogue these days). But researchers haven't seen naturally occurring harder-than-diamond material until now. From MSNBC:

A closer look with an array of instruments revealed two totally new kinds of naturally occurring carbon, which are harder than the diamonds formed inside the Earth.
"The discovery was accidental but we were sure that looking in these meteorites would lead to new findings on the carbon system," said Tristan Ferroir of the Universite de Lyon in France.

...and...

"The only evidence we have for a higher hardness than diamond is the fact that we polished the rock section with a diamond paste and that our polymorph and polytypes were not polished by this material," said Ferroir. "This why we do think that its hardness is harder than diamond."

And no, there was not a male infant inside the meteorite upon it's descent the Earth. ;)

Full story.

More science about harder-than-diamond substances that, frankly, makes my head hurt.
More background on how diamonds are formed in hot, high-pressure situations like volcanoes, meteorites, and annual employee reviews.
Info on chondrites, meteorites with crystalline inner structure

Wow, and I already had crystals on the brain this week! I sense a convergence coming....

First evidence of asteroid collision spotted by Hubble

2010-02-02T13:29:00.000-06:00

I wouldn't call Harry Stamper just yet, but NASA is reporting that the first photos of an apparent collision between two asteroids have been taken by the Hubble space telescope. Wired has the story:

If it’s confirmed by further observations, it would be the first time that scientists have detected the interplanetary collision between objects in the asteroid belt, though they believe that such occurrences are common.

The complex structure of the debris is what makes astronomers think they may be seeing something new around the sun. The main nucleus of the object, P/2010 A2, is actually located outside its dust halo, something that’s never been seen in a comet-like object before.

and....

“If this interpretation is correct, two small and previously unknown asteroids recently collided, creating a shower of debris that is being swept back into a tail from the collision site by the pressure of sunlight,” Jewitt said.

My new Sci-Fi blog!

2010-01-25T15:28:00.000-06:00

I've got a few irons in the fire, and one of them is Exonauts! my new blog about developing ideas for sci-fi RPGs and writing. Exonauts are explorers and adventurers cavorting to/from/around/on exoplanets--it's as simple as that. Instead of creating a campaign based on a single world, I thought it might be cool to do one from a an adventuring perspective where any world could be one of many destinations. So how would these exonauts be equipped, what would they find, where would they go? That's what the new blog is all about....

Have a look for yourself.

Diamonds on Uranus the Size of Icebergs!

2010-01-19T10:53:00.000-06:00

Photos: NASA

And Neptune too! Scientists now speculate that Uranus (yes, I'm just going to keep saying "Uranus") has oceans of liquid diamond that may also have solid "icebergs" of diamond floating on the surface. Apparently diamond is quite common in the solar system (really?) but the boiling point hasn't been previously measured. You might not think that Uranus is hot (Ha! Been waiting for that one!) but boiling--and by extension melting or vaporizing a material--also takes intense pressure. Which, as it turns out, Uranus has lots of pressure. (Must be those old jeans!).

Anyway, Discovery Networks explains how the scientists were able to replicate the science in a lab:

When the pressure dropped to about 11 million times the atmospheric pressure at sea level on Earth and the temperature dropped to about 50,000 degrees solid chunks of diamond began to appear. The pressure kept dropping, but the temperature of the diamond remained the same, with more and more chunks of diamond forming.

Then the diamond did something unexpected. The chunks of diamond didn't sink. They floated. Microscopic diamond ice burgs floating in a tiny sea of liquid diamond. The diamond was behaving like water.

With most materials, the solid state is more dense than the liquid state. Water is an exception to that rule; when water freezes, the resulting ice is actually less dense than the surrounding water, which is why the ice floats and fish can survive a Minnesota winter.

So there you go, a concise explanation for diamond oceans and ice fishing in Minnesota all in one tidy package.

Read more...

Meanwhile, on Neptune....

Hey! Uranus ain't the only one with diamonds!

Yeah, yeah, whatever...

UPDATE! Scientists say they're launching a probe in the near future:

Seriously, I better stop because I could do this all day.

Mystery Object Hurtling Towards Earth TODAY!

2010-01-13T10:22:00.000-06:00

Photo: E. Guido and G. Sostero / AFAM / CARA via MSNBC

Scientists have identified and object that will pass the Earth (but won't hit it) sometime today. In a somewhat disconcerting twist, they don't know what it is. It's going to fwoosh by, missing us by only 80k miles (that's a third of the distance from here to the moon just FYI). Calm yourselves people! We can get through this. See, it's only about 10 meters wide, which turns out to be a good thing because (from MSNBC):

.....the "asteroid," or whatever it is, gives us a new standard: A 10-meter-wide (33-foot-wide) asteroid can be detected two days before it potentially hits Earth.

That's supposed to be COMFORTING?

What makes this near-Earth object, or NEO, special is that it has an orbital period of almost exactly one year. This fact has led some scientists to speculate that 2010 AL30 could be an artificial object and not an asteroid.

So it's space junk? But couldn't it still cause some damage?

It is worth noting that even if 2010 AL30 did hit Earth, it would most likely explode high in the atmosphere (with the energy of a small nuclear bomb), posing little danger to anyone on the ground. Impacts of this size happen every year.

Well that makes me feel better! Unless it's artificial and not made by humans.....

Read more about about this ~~impending doom from above~~ interesting space anomaly.

UPDATE: Wired posted an update (it is an asteroid) and some new images, including an animation of the fly by.

GIANT Crystal Caves of Naica

2010-01-11T14:17:00.000-06:00

All photos: National Geographic

Been meaning to post this one for a looooong time--and thanks to Eiglophian Press for jogging my memory! These are absolutely amazing and REAL! National Geographic did a story in 2008 and ran a TV special on Mexico's Cueva de los Cristales (Cave of the Crystals). The cave boasts some enormous crystal structures (among the largest ever discovered). The cavern is part of the Naica mine deep under the Chihuahuan Desert. It's like something out of a Jules Verne novel, but REAL! But don't take my word for it, from National Geographic:

Hidden deep beneath the surface of the Earth is one of the greatest natural marvels on the planet: a giant crystal cave with crystals up to 36 feet long and weighing 55 tons. But this scorching cavern could kill humans after just 15 minutes of exposure.

A few pics:

Nat Geo put together an entire web story (in their usual, superb fashion) with video as a companion to the TV special that does this more justice than I ever could! Take a look...

Seriously, this is just about the coolest discovery I've ever heard of.

Lava Tube Awaits Lunar Colonization

2010-01-03T23:26:00.000-06:00

Photo: ISAS/JAXA/Junichi Haruyama et al. via Popular Science

Or something like that. Actually that headline is waaaay better than "Moon hole might be suitable for colony" which was CNN's attempt at 4th grade humor.

It looks like JAXA (Japanese for NASA) has identified a lava tube that's 213 feet wide and 260 feet deep which could potentially shield lunar colonists from the dangers of intense radiation. If you've made it this far without devolving into complete "Uranus" joke humor, then congrats, because this is actually pretty cool news. From CNN:

"Lunar lava tubes are a potentially important location for a future lunar base, whether for local exploration and development, or as an outpost to serve exploration beyond the Moon," writes the team, led by Junichi Haruyama, a senior researcher with the Japanese space agency JAXA.

"Any intact lava tube could serve as a shelter from the severe environment of the lunar surface, with its meteorite impacts, high-energy UV radiation and energetic particles, and extreme diurnal temperature variations."

Lava tubes have previously been discovered on the moon, but the scientists say the new hole is notable because of its lava shield and because it does not appear to be prone to collapse.

The full story...

Popular Science also has a nice article.

Bigfoot of Bemidji

2009-12-10T12:39:00.001-06:00

Photo: Grand Forks Herald via Minneapolis Star Tribune

I can't say I've ever been a huge Bigfoot believer, but then again there are odd cryptozoological finds every now and again. An ancient species thought to be extinct is found somewhere or something thought to be mythological is found to actually be real.

It appears that someone's motion-sensor camera captured what appears to be a seven-foot primate walking in the woods behind their house. I'm not saying it's Bigfoot. But the Minneapolis Star Tribune (Minneapolis is my neighbor, I'm in glorious St. Paul, Minn.) seems to think it is--though local authorities and the DNR remain skeptical.

From the article:

On the rainy night of Oct. 24, at 7:20 p.m., the camera captured a blurry image of a black creature, about seven feet tall, striding through a stand of trees.

...and...

He said two elderly men who live closest to the site told him that late that night they had gone outside to use their outhouse and had heard strange squealing noises.
When asked to show him the direction of the sounds, they pointed to the area where the camera had been.

...and also...

They compared the image to one of an alleged Bigfoot photo taken years ago in California "and the features were identical," Kedrowski said.

Sherman said the Northern Minnesota Bigfoot Research Team has been receiving reports of Bigfoot sightings in 2006 and has had reports every year since, including four reports this year.

So, it looks like Sasquatch Season has begun!

Read on...

Best Archeological Finds of 09

2009-12-10T11:54:00.001-06:00

National Geographic has listed their Top 10 Archeology Finds for the past year, which includes some really great discoveries. My personal favorites:

Blackbeard Pirate Relics!

Who wouldn't want to get their hands on some genuine pirate booty? (Okay, let me rephrase). Who wouldn't want to get their hands on a real-life pirate chest? (Oh, nevermind!) Read the article you scallywags:

Some of the newfound relics add to evidence that the ship belonged to the pirate. ""We feel pretty comfortable that that's what this is," said Marke Wilde-Ramsing, director of the Queen Anne's Revenge project for the North Carolina Office of State Archaeology.

...and...

Navigational instruments were favorite targets of looting pirates, because the tools could easily be sold or traded, said archaeologist David Moore of the North Carolina Maritime Museum, who is working on the wreck site.

World War II Samurai Subs

These WWII era submarines discovered off the coast of Hawaii were at the peak of naval stealth technology for the age and even carried folding-wing planes for sneak attacks. Maybe they should be called Ninja Subs? From the article:

Specifically designed for a stealth attack on the U.S. East Coast--perhaps targeting Washington D.C., and New York City--the "samurai subs" were fast, far-ranging, and in some cases carried folding-wing aircraft, according to Dik Daso, curator of modern military aircraft at the Smithsonian's Air and Space Museum, speaking in the new National Geographic documentary Hunt for the Samurai Subs.

No word on whether the Samurai Sub commanders understood that DC and NYC are clear on the other side of North America....

Pre-Stonehenge Structure Found....Surrounded by Crop Circles!

Cue the sci-fi music, this one is just plain eerie. Archeologists found this site spanning nearly 500 acres when they examined aerial photos of crop circles. What they found were the remains of an undiscovered 6,000 year-old temple complex complete with tombs and burial mounds. From the article:

During the late Stone Age, it's believed, people in the region left their dead in the open to be picked clean by birds and other animals.

Skulls and other bones of people who were for some reason deemed significant were later placed inside the burial mounds, Wickstead explained.
"These are bone houses, in a way," she said. "Instead of whole bodies, [the tombs contain] parts of ancestors."

This one is among my favorites because there are so many unanswered questions. Were the crop circles just coincidence? Or do they exist to draw attention to the site? Be sure to check out both pages of this article on Nat Geo's site.

Read the complete list--it's chock full of fodder for pulp adventure, including the largest Anglo-Saxon treasure every discovered (pictured up top). Wait, let's try that again. I also take no small pride in that I covered one of the discoveries about the "Vampire crypt" on this blog, back in August. Score!

So there's like, 10 new ideas for you--now go have fun!

All photos: National Geographic

Good News: They Found Galileo's Fingers, Tooth!

2009-11-23T15:23:00.000-06:00

Photo: Istituto e Museo di Storia della Scienza di Firenze via MSNBC

Just the news you were waiting to hear, right? What's that? You didn't know they were even missing? You're in for a treat that's been pickling for close to 300 years! It's true, three of Galileo's fingers and a tooth from his jaw were removed after his death and kept in a jar. Turns out two of the fingers and the tooth ran off together around 1905.

Oh sure, it sounds kind of sick now, but back then this was standard practice for preserving saints. That's right--this heretic of the church was believed by his, er, mutilators, to be a saint of science!

From CNN:

They were purchased recently at an auction by a person who brought them to the Museum of the History of Science in Florence, suspecting what they were, museum director Paolo Galluzzi said.

Three fingers were cut from Galileo's hand in March 1737, when his body was moved from a temporary monument to its final resting place in Florence, Italy.

Seems like an odd way to honor the dead, "HEY! Let's take a PIECE OF HIM!". Poor G.

The museum has had the other finger since the 1920s and is hoping to set up a reunion (of sorts). Interesting tid-bit, the fingers that were removed were the same ones he'd have used to hold a pen. Must have been some magic in those crusty old fingers!

Read more about the gruesome find. MSNBC has an article as well.

Witch Bottle Wards Off Evil, Hygiene

2009-11-14T01:46:00.000-06:00

Photo: National Geographic

File this one under: strange and slightly gross. How do witches and warlocks fight evil spirits? By concocting their own magic talismans in form of enchanted bottles of course! The practice was bigger in the 16th century, but fell out of favor sometime during the Age of Reason. Why? Because it was the Age of Reason. It's rare for a witch bottle to be found intact, but that's exactly what's happened. From Nat Geo:

In the 17th and 18th centuries in Britain, the supposedly cursed often put their toenails and fingernails, urine, and hair into the witch bottles.

These jugs, usually buried near a house or building, were meant to keep evildoers at bay.

Can you imagine finding 300-year-old pee and fingernails? “magic” wouldn't exactly be the first word that comes to my mind. An X-ray confirms nothing nasty in this bottle. (Thankfully!) But that didn’t keep it from being charged with powerful magic:

Despite their name, witch bottles were more often intended as all-purpose lucky charms against bad luck, Norton said—"a modern equivalent of hanging a horseshoe on your door."

The superstitious also stuck children's shoes inside walls or buried horse skulls by doors—animals were believed to be able to see spirits, he said.

Ah, so it imbues one with the power to see plot points in M. Night Shyamalan films? Now that IS magical!

Read more...

NASA: WATER ON THE MOON!

2009-11-13T14:02:00.000-06:00

Photo: NASA!

That's right junior moon explorers! There's water in them thar craters! LOTS OF IT! From MSNBC:

NASA's LCROSS probe discovered beds of water ice at the lunar south pole when it impacted the moon last month, mission scientists announced Friday. The findings confirm suspicions reported previously, and in a big way.
"Indeed, yes, we found water. And we didn't find just a little bit, we found a significant amount," said Anthony Colaprete, LCROSS project scientist and principal investigator from NASA's Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, Calif.

Water could of course be converted into fuel for rockets, making it the perfect spot for a pit stop between here and the other planetary bodies of our solar system. Water, I'm also told, can be used to make your favorite astro-beverage.

Read up on all the liquid lunar goodness...

The BBC also has more...

Or get the full story from NASA...

FOUND: Persian Army Lost in Sandstorm 2,500 Years Ago

2009-11-10T13:37:00.000-06:00

Photo credit: Alfredo and Angelo Castiglioni via Discovery Networks

Italian researches claim to have found the remains of an ancient Persian army that disappeared in the sands of Egypt some 2,500 years ago.

From MSNBC:

Bronze weapons, a silver bracelet, an earring and hundreds of human bones found in the vast desolate wilderness of the Sahara desert have raised hopes of finally finding the lost army of Persian King Cambyses II. The 50,000 warriors were said to be buried by a cataclysmic sandstorm in 525 B.C.

"We have found the first archaeological evidence of a story reported by the Greek historian Herodotus," Dario Del Bufalo, a member of the expedition from the University of Lecce, told Discovery News.

Herodotus' tale recounts how the Persian army of more than 50,000 became lost on the way to siege Siwa Oasis. The army at the time was commanded by Cambyses II, son of Cyrus the Great, founder of the Persian Empire. The army was ordered to destroy the oracle at the Temple of Amun but never arrived. They were swallowed by the sands and the temple stood to eventually proclaim Alexander of Macedonia "Master of the Universe" (I'm not making this up) much to the chagrin of ol' Camby. Alex went on to become "the Great" and Camby, uh, died mysteriously in what was thought to be a coup d'état. Bummer!

By this time the legend of the army's disappearance passed into myth until it was recently discovered only to be recounted in the great historian's telling:

"A wind arose from the south, strong and deadly, bringing with it vast columns of whirling sand, which entirely covered up the troops and caused them wholly to disappear."

The story is utterly fascinating, you should check out the full article...

Or you could just watch the YouTube version from Discovery Networks.

Glow in the Dark Mushrooms!

2009-10-05T16:18:00.001-05:00

Image: Cassius V. Stevani / Chemistry Institute, University of Sao Paulo via MSNBC

I guess I thought these were based more in science fiction and fantasy than fact (what do I know?!), but they're REAL! Researchers have found them in regions spanning the globe:

The freaky findings, reported today in the journal Mycologia, increases the number of aglow mushroom species from 64 to 71, shedding light on the evolution of luminescence in nature.
The newly identified mushrooms, which emit a bright, yellowish-green light 24 hours a day, were found in Belize, Brazil, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Japan, Malaysia and Puerto Rico. They include four species new to science and three new reports of luminescence in known species.

Even more interesting is a now emerging theory that many more types of mushrooms once had the glow, but lost their magical powers--er, their characteristic bioluminescence.

"What interests us is that within Mycena, the luminescent species come from 16 different lineages, which suggests that luminescence evolved at a single point and some species later lost the ability to glow," Desjardin said.

Giant Jellyfish Grow in Numbers, Plot Conquest

2009-09-14T09:14:00.000-05:00

Photo: Discovery News and ABC Science Online

Well, we've done it. Thanks to overfishing and global warming, giant jellyfish have begun to increase in number. Overfishing has eliminated their natural predators and the rise in ocean temperature has given them an abundance of food. How long before they can do calculus and acquire mental telepathy. And apparently, their growth means even more bad news for seafood fans. From the Discovery Channel:

Jellyfish are normally kept in check by fish, which eat small jellyfish and compete for jellyfish food such as zooplankton, researchers said. But, with overfishing, jellyfish numbers are increasing.
These huge creatures can burst through fishing nets, as well as destroy local fisheries with their taste for fish eggs and larvae.

So not only are they chowing down like never before on a fat food supply, but they're cutting into ours. That's so evil! They're already human-sized. How long before they can pilot space ships?!

"(There is) a jellyfish called Nomura, which is the biggest jellyfish in the world. It can weigh 200 kilograms (440 pounds), as big as a sumo wrestler and is 2 meters (6.5 feet) in diameter," Richardson said.

Richardson said jellyfish numbers are increasing in Southeast Asia, the Black Sea, the Gulf of Mexico and the North Sea.

Read more about our soon-to-be invertebrate overlords. Click on that photo to scare yourself silly!

Carnivorous Plant Dines on Jungle Rats

2009-08-28T09:46:00.000-05:00

Photo: Redfern Natural History via CNN

There's an old saying that if you build a better mousetrap the world will beat a path to your door. Well it looks like mother nature has already made one. Meet Nepenthes attenboroughii the a species of Pitcher Plant, a carnivorous plant. This one eats rodents, namely jungle rats. As you can see in the photo below, they're called pitcher plants because of the vase-shaped vessel that makes up the bulk of the plant. This acts as mouth and stomach all-in-one.

Photo: Crytpomundo.com

Now, I'm sure all of you have at least seen a Venus Fly Trap at one point. Maybe at a conservatory or zoo, or even on TV. And we've all seen carnivorous plants in science fiction. Heck even Roadblock from G.I. Joe has had one run in too many with voracious flora.

But this isn't sci-fi, it's a real meat-eating plant! CNN takes us to the Philippines to where the plant was discovered:McPherson told CNN:

"Around the mouth of the pitcher are secretions of nectar which attracts insects and small animals. The rim has lots of waxy downward-pointing ridges which help prey fall directly into the pitcher.
"The pitchers are half full of a liquid consisting of acids and enzymes which help break down its prey."
The insectivorous, sometimes carnivorous diet is crucial for the plants' survival says McPherson.
"These plants grow in really harsh areas where soil quality is very poor -- often pure gravel or sand. Catching insects allows the plant to augment nutrients that it otherwise wouldn't have access to."

Still not grossed out? Here's a video of the plant feasting on a rat. And a slightly longer clip with narration explaining the deviousness of said plant. Enjoy!

The plant is named for famed broadcaster and naturalist Sir David Attenborough who although had nothing to do with it's discovery, was deemed an all-around, nice enough guy to name a deadly flesh eating plant after. Although he did do a segment on Venus Fly Traps, so that would seem to make sense.

Read more...

Venician Vampire Grave Unveiled ...MUHAHAHAHA!

2009-08-28T00:27:00.001-05:00

Photo: Matteo Borrini / AP via MSNBC

I need to do a little catching up on some older stories. This first one is about a suspected "vampire" grave discovered at a dig site outside of Venice, Italy. A woman's well-preserved skeleton was found with a brick in her mouth--which apparently is how you keep vampires from waking up and biting you (how come we never saw THAT in a movie?).

In addition to being a decidely old-school method of beating the devil, it was also decidely dumb because--anyone, anyone? That's right! There's no such thing as vampires!

But that doesn't mean there wasn't good reason to believe that the dead might raise. After all, there was this (very circumstantial) eye-witness evidence. MSNBC drives a stake through it:

During epidemics, mass graves were often reopened to bury fresh corpses and diggers would chance upon older bodies that were bloated, with blood seeping out of their mouth and with an inexplicable hole in the shroud used to cover their face.
"These characteristics are all tied to the decomposition of bodies," Borrini said. "But they saw a fat, dead person, full of blood and with a hole in the shroud, so they would say: 'This guy is alive, he's drinking blood and eating his shroud.'"

Thanks to modern science we know that the bloating occurs from gas building up in corpses (yuck!). In any case, why let science ruin it--she was obviously a bloodsucker who deserved a brick sandwich, right?

Anyone?

Zombie Ants Controlled by Fungal Overlord!

2009-08-14T13:31:00.000-05:00

Image courtesy of Wikipedia

Huh? This story is too weird for me to even attempt to summarize, so I'll just go straight to the MSNBC highlight:

In a bizarre parasitic death sentence, a fungus turns carpenter ants into the walking dead and gets them to die in a spot that's perfect for the fungus to grow and reproduce.

...and...

Once infected by the fungus, an ant is compelled to climb down from the canopy to the low leaves, where it clamps down with its mandibles just before it dies.
"The fungus accurately manipulates the infected ants into dying where the parasite prefers to be, by making the ants travel a long way during the last hours of their lives," said study leader David P. Hughes of Harvard University.

Yeah, just plain weird, right? Anyway, to learn more about the evil fungus and it's insectoid automatons, read on...

Now if only we could get the fungus to get rid of these bugs, I'd feel safer!

Cave Complex Discovered Under Giza Pyramids!

2009-08-14T13:10:00.000-05:00

This is REALLY cool news--a British expolorer claims to have discovered a series of caves and tunnels under the pyramids at Giza! The place is crawling with venomous spiders and bats! It's like real-life dungeon crawl!

From Discovery News:

"There is untouched archaeology down there, as well as a delicate ecosystem that includes colonies of bats and a species of spider which we have tentatively identified as the white widow," British explorer Andrew Collins said.

Collins, who will detail his findings in the book "Beneath the Pyramids" to be published in September, tracked down the entrance to the mysterious underworld after reading the forgotten memoirs of a 19th century diplomat and explorer.
"In his memoirs, British consul general Henry Salt recounts how he investigated an underground system of 'catacombs' at Giza in 1817 in the company of Italian explorer Giovanni Caviglia," Collins said.

If true, this is seriously one of the more exciting archeological finds I've heard of--like a real life Indiana Jones adventure!

Image courtesy Wikipedia

Giant Black "Blob" Attacks Alaska!

2009-07-17T10:15:00.000-05:00

I guess there's more than one blob out there! This one is "definately organic" according to one official. And it likes cold water. Seriously creepy! From the Anchorage Daily News:

Hunters from Wainwright first started noticing the stuff sometime probably early last week. It's thick and dark and "gooey" and is drifting for miles in the cold Arctic waters, according to Gordon Brower with the North Slope Borough's Planning and Community Services Department.
Brower and other borough officials, joined by the U.S. Coast Guard, flew out to Wainwright to investigate. The agencies found "globs" of the stuff floating miles offshore Friday and collected samples for testing.

Here's some choice quotes about it's physical description:

It's certainly biological," Hasenauer said. "It's definitely not an oil product of any kind. It has no characteristics of an oil, or a hazardous substance, for that matter.
"It's definitely, by the smell and the makeup of it, it's some sort of naturally occurring organic or otherwise marine organism."

and...

"It's pitch black when it hits ice and it kind of discolors the ice and hangs off of it," Brower said. He saw some jellyfish tangled up in the stuff, and someone turned in what was left of a dead goose -- just bones and feathers -- to the borough's wildlife department.

Yuck!

Read more...

Photos courtesy of the North Slope Borough via Anchorage Daily News.

Mason-Dixon Meteorite Tracked on Video

2009-07-15T13:48:00.000-05:00

Looks like I'm a few days behind on this--the Mason-Dixon Meteorite was tracked on a surveillance camera! The Baltimore Sun has more:

The big fireball meteor that startled residents in Central Maryland and southern Pennsylvania early Monday morning was captured on a security camera video in York Pa. It's about 18 seconds into the 70-second video. Meteorite hunters hope this will be a first clue to guide them to the spot where surviving bits of the meteor - if there are any - may have landed.

Video isn't super great quality, but definitely worth checking out.

And it looks like a local astronomy buff has created a simulation (click the pick for the video):
Read more about the hunt for the meteorite and the latest details so far...

Props to www.mikesastrophotos.com and the Baltimore Sun.

Mason-Dixon Meteorite Blasts Through Sky, Crashes to Earth

2009-07-15T13:40:00.000-05:00

The Baltimore Sun reports on a meteor dubbed the Mason-Dixon Meteor that apparently crashed to Earth near Lancaster County, July 6. An excerpt of some of the reports:

The York Dispatch: In York County, Pa., police officers from Penn Township, Southwestern Regional and Newberry Township reported seeing a flash and hearing a boom around 1:15 a.m. Monday, July 6, according to local 911 centers. Officials in Harford County, Md. also reported seeing a flash and hearing a boom near the Mason-Dixon Line.
Capital Gazette: An Annapolis city police officer reported that she and her partner both saw what she described as a "bright blue light in the sky" just after midnight. It was followed by "a light with a tail, falling from the sky," according to our informant. Annapolis police reported hearing a similar report on Baltimore County police radio.
Gary Moon, reporting to The Sun's News Tips: "I heard and felt a deep earth blast similar to an earthquake, which shook my home in Glen Rock, Pa., early Monday morning. I thought I would hear MUCH more about this one ... nothing."
Deborah Markow, Havre de Grace: "Last night, couldn't sleep, went out on back deck, laid on lounge, eyes closed and then it was like someone pointed a flash light in my eyes it was so bright. I saw another one streak through the sky ... It was one of the most thrilling sights to behold a ball of fire flying through the sky."

Ancient Egyptian Stronghold Discovered

2009-07-15T13:09:00.001-05:00

A newly discovered Egyptian fortress was discovered near the Suez Canal and El-Manzala Lake, just northeast of the town of Qantara. The outpost dates back 12 centuries before Christ and was constructed out of mud bricks. From MSNBC:

The discovery shouldn't come as a surprise; Tell Dafna was long known to be a strategic outpost against Egypt's enemies. King Ramses II of the 19th Dynasty (1279-1212 B.C.) chose the site to erect a fortress. King Psammetichus I, the first ruler of the 26th Dynasty (664-625 B.C.), later established a garrison of foreign mercenaries to defend the eastern borders of Egypt from invaders.
Dating to the 7th century B.C., the foundations unearthed by the archaeologists most likely belonged to Psammetichus I's fortified garrison town.

Read more...

Photo credit: Supreme Council of Antiquities via MSNBC

Newly Discovered "Megapiranha" May Be Evolutionary Step Between Nice Fish, Evil-er Ones

2009-06-26T11:55:00.000-05:00

A newly discovered fossil of a previously unknown species of piranha, dubbed "megapiranha" (scary!) is being examined as the step between modern piranhas and a related, much larger species called pacu. The megapiranha is 3-foot in length (again, scary!) and holds clues in the formation of its teeth. From MSNBC:

Present-day piranhas have a single row of triangular teeth, like the blade on a saw, explained the researchers. Pacu have two rows of square teeth, presumably for crushing fruits and seeds.
"In modern piranhas, the teeth are arranged in a single file," said Wasila Dahdul, a visiting scientist at the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center in North Carolina. "But in the relatives of piranhas — which tend to be herbivorous fishes — the teeth are in two rows."
The new fossil shows an intermediate pattern: teeth in a zig-zag row. This suggests that the two rows in pacu were compressed to form a single row in piranhas. "It almost looks like the teeth are migrating from the second row into the first row," said John Lundberg, curator at the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia and a co-author of a study of the jawbone.

Roman Imperial Treasure Found!

2009-06-24T16:13:00.000-05:00

Archeologists in Naples, Italy have uncovered a treasure trove of Roman antiquity, including a marble bust of Emperor Titus. From MSNBC:

The long-term digging effort in Rione Terra, a cliff in the port town of Pozzuoli, has yielded remains of 12 ancient statues, columns, and fragments bearing inscriptions from what appear to be monuments from the Republican and Imperial periods of ancient Roman history.
Among the most striking finds was the marble head of Emperor Titus, who ruled at the time of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D. and who was celebrated throughout antiquity for providing generous financial assistance to survivors of the eruption. Bearing a crown of laurel leaves, the emperor's head was found in an ancient water tunnel.

Chinese Cat Grows Wings!

2009-05-28T15:40:00.000-05:00

This would definitely fall under an X-File type of story--a cat in China has apparently grown "wing-like" appendages due to a genetic malformation. From MSNBC:

While some think the bony limbs may be a mutation of some kind — or even a Siamese twin growing inside the cat — others speculate it's a genetic change perhaps caused by chemicals ingested by the kitty's mother while she was pregnant.

Did the mention of a twin inside the cat make you gag a little bit? You're not alone. Even more disturbing is the fact that this is nothing new. Click this pic from Sodahead for more weirdness:

No word on how much Red Bull these cats may have ingested.

Read more...

Props: Photos borrowed from MSNBC and Sodahead.

Missing Link (to Lemurs?) Found!

2009-05-20T09:48:00.000-05:00

Well, it appears the true missing link has been discovered--in Germany of all places. This is a surprise to be sure since most pre-homosapien fossils are found in North or East Africa. No matter, the real surprise is perhaps that we're more related to lemurs than we thought, which if you weren't aware, only hail from one place on Earth--Madagascar.

From National Geographic

The fossil, he says, bridges the evolutionary split between higher primates such as monkeys, apes, and humans and their more distant relatives such as lemurs.
"This is the first link to all humans," Hurum, of the Natural History Museum in Oslo, Norway, said in a statement. Ida represents "the closest thing we can get to a direct ancestor."
Ida, properly known as Darwinius masillae, has a unique anatomy. The lemur-like skeleton features primate-like characteristics, including grasping hands, opposable thumbs, clawless digits with nails, and relatively short limbs.
"This specimen looks like a really early fossil monkey that belongs to the group that includes us," said Brian Richmond, a biological anthropologist at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., who was not involved in the study.

Read more...

Ida has her own website too.

Galactus, is that you?

2009-04-30T10:34:00.001-05:00

More on the giant space blob that seems to be a supernova from the early days of the universe.

From CNN:

The star which exploded was 30 to 100 times larger than our own sun, and when it died, it gave off "about million times the amount of energy the sun will release in its entire lifetime," Berger told CNN by phone from Harvard University, where he is an assistant professor of astronomy.

Its death throes produced so much energy that "momentarily, we can essentially see it anywhere in the universe," Berger said. The object, known as GRB 090423, is about 200 million years older than the previous record-holder for oldest object ever seen.

Full story...

Reports have indicated a tiny silver man on a surfboard may have preceded the explosion. Looks like Big G may have had himself a buffet!

Indeciperable, Ancient Language Cracked by Artificial Intelligence

2009-04-25T16:11:00.001-05:00

It seems that Hal and Skynet have teamed up to unlock a 4,000-year-old mystery by deciphering symbols long thought to be just "decorative". As it turns out, the elaborate pictograms from the Indus Valley were actually an ancient language.

Wired has the story:

An ancient script that's defied generations of archaeologists has yielded some of its secrets to artificially intelligent computers. Computational analysis of symbols used 4,000 years ago by a long-lost Indus Valley civilization suggests they represent a spoken language. Some frustrated linguists thought the symbols were merely pretty pictures.

"The underlying grammatical structure seems similar to what's found in many languages," said University of Washington computer scientist Rajesh Rao.

The Indus script, used between 2,600 and 1,900 B.C. in what is now eastern Pakistan and northwest India, belonged to a civilization as sophisticated as its Mesopotamian and Egyptian contemporaries. However, it left fewer linguistic remains. Archaeologists have uncovered about 1,500 unique inscriptions from fragments of pottery, tablets and seals. The longest inscription is just 27 signs long.

Fascinating! No word on when the supercomputers will turn against us. Read more...

Props: Pic borrowed from Wired.com

Mysterious Blob Found in Universe's Past!

2009-04-22T22:53:00.000-05:00

I'm not sure what to make of this article, since most of the scientists seem to be unable to make anything of it either. So here's MSNBC's best shot at explaining:

A strange giant space “blob” spotted when the universe was relatively young has got astronomers puzzled.Using space and ground telescopes, astronomers looked back to when the universe was only 800 million years old and found something that was out of proportion and out of time. It was gaseous, big, and emitted a certain type of radiation, said study lead author Masami Ouchi, an astronomer at the Carnegie Observatories in Pasadena, Calif.

Scientists don’t even know what to call it. So they just called it a radiation-emitting “blob.” They used that horror-film staple 34 times in their peer-reviewed study, which will be published in next month’s edition of the Astrophysical Journal. More formally, they named it Himiko, after a legendary ancient Japanese queen.

Read me...

Four New Egyptian Temples Discovered!

2009-04-21T11:19:00.000-05:00

Looks like four new temples have been uncovered near the Sinai region that may have been used to impress foreign dignitaries in ancient Egypt.

From the Star Tribune:

Archaeologists exploring an old military road in the Sinai have unearthed four new temples amidst the 3,000-year-old remains of an ancient fortified city that could have been used to impress foreign delegations visiting Egypt, antiquities authorities announced Tuesday.
Among the discoveries was the largest mud brick temple found in the Sinai with an area of 70 by 80 meters (77 by 87 yards) and fortified with mud walls 3 meters (10 feet) thick, said Zahi Hawass, chief of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities.

Astronaut Confesses: We're Not Alone

2009-04-21T02:39:00.000-05:00

Well duh! No really, c'mon, does anyone think we're really the only ones in the universe? Likely not, but just in case you were a UFO conspiracy nut, now you've got reason tell everyone you were right.

Former Apollo astronaut Edgar Mitchell has gone on the record (again, technically this is his second admission) about the actual existence of extra-terrestrials and their vacation plans here on Earth. He says he has said he's witnessed UFOs.

From CNN:

Mitchell, who was part of the 1971 Apollo 14 moon mission, asserted Monday that extraterrestrial life exists, and that the truth is being concealed by the U.S. and other governments.

He delivered his remarks during an appearance at the National Press Club following the conclusion of the fifth annual X-Conference, a meeting of UFO activists and researchers studying the possibility of alien life forms.
Mankind has long wondered if we're "alone in the universe. [But] only in our period do we really have evidence. No, we're not alone," Mitchell said.
"Our destiny, in my opinion, and we might as well get started with it, is [to] become a part of the planetary community. ... We should be ready to reach out beyond our planet and beyond our solar system to find out what is really going on out there."

For the full article....

Now, whether you believe him or not, is entirely up to you. As for myself? Well, let me just tell you a brief story. When I was in college I worked for the student organization that put on campus events. I did the A/V set up (yes, I'm an audio/video geek) anytime we had a speaker come to give a presentation in the student union. One of my close friends was the president of the student org that brought presenters, talent, etc. to the school to speak--so I often met the "celebrities" before or after the events.

One of these speakers happened to be Ken Mattingly, another Apollo mission astronaut. You might remember in the film Apollo 13, Gary Sinise's character--the guy who was grounded and had to help get them home by training in the simulator. Yeah, he had a cool car too. That's who Sinise was playing.

Anyway, he came to talk about the Apollo mission and his experiences aboard the Space Shuttle. Afterwards he answered audience questions. Now, this was sort of sad because there wasn't a huge turn out, maybe 50 people or so. Inevitably, someone asked him about "aliens" and "have you ever seen a UFO". My buddy, the organizer guy, froze with fear. He was a NASA freak himself, he went to space camp, he knew all sorts of Apollo lore. He respected the astronauts like they were gods. I could see that he was mortified by someone asking this question.

To his credit, Admiral Mattingly didn't flinch, perspire, or even wiggle an eyebrow. He answered straight out. "Yes." He proceeded to explain that in various missions he spent in space he--as well as other astronauts--witnessed strange objects. Objects that moved in deliberate trajectories. He also specifically denied that it could have been space junk or some other phenomenon. The admiral was convinced it was something intelligent and non-man made.

Afterwards, my buddy and I joked around with Mattingly. He graciously signed my copy of the Apollo 13 soundtrack on CD (the liner notes). He was able to switch gears for a moment and even made a joke about being a fan of Gary Sinise. But if we were waiting for the punchline it never came. In truth, we were still stunned by his comments. As much as I thought this guy was the real deal--I began to think he'd spent too much time in space. It wasn't until about 3 years later that I began to doubt that assertion.

After college, I managed, of all things, a cable access station. We didn't have much programming and I was sick of putting crappy imported (i.e., tapes mailed to the station) shows on the air. Somehow I manage to get on a mailing list for a couple of PR agencies that sent out screener tapes for movies. Previews really. I'd get free passes and swag. I attempted to turn this material into a film review show. (That's another story for another time.)

The important part of this story is that I was invited to come to an HBO screening of "From the Earth to the Moon" a mini-series produced by Tom Hanks and based on the book "A Man on the Moon" by Andrew Chaikin. I was all excited, being a NASA nut and brought our craptastic video camera and mic set up to seek an interview with the author. Thinking it would be impossible to get a one-on-one, I was pleasantly surprised when I found myself the only one with a video camera. Mr. Chaikin agreed to an interview and was very genuine and pleasant. He was also extremely good at his job.

See, in order to research his book he slogged through mountains of archives, film footage, and historical records. He also went astronaut hunting. If you read his book--and what he told me then--was that astronauts by nature are loners and several of those from the Apollo era aren't keen to do interviews anymore. So he had his work cut out for him. Some of them were near impossible to speak to. Which is where Admiral Mattingly comes back into our story, because he was notorious for avoiding interviews.

Chaikin on the other hand was very personable and easy to interview and happy to talk about his research and tracking down Apollo personnel. Afterward, while I was putting the equipment away, I decided to tell him my little ghost story from my college days--about how a retired astronaut had us all spooked about aliens.

Mr. Chaikin got a look of surprise across his face. He said, that it was amazing that Mattingly was doing appearances and even more amazing that he was so open about his supposed experiences. Chaikin told me that Mattingly must have been serious about what he was saying--because the Admiral doesn't kid.

Since that conversation, some 11 years ago, I have thought long and hard about what I learned from these two men. One was/is literally one the most highly trained individuals on the planet. A military man, a pilot with reserves of patience and exceptional powers of lucidity that he's tempered through years of endurance training in extreme conditions.

The other was a meticulous researcher and observer. The descriptions of the men and women he interviewed in his book are surprisingly crisp in detail and revealing in character. To date, no other book has emerged as well-researched in due diligence and balanced with candor and astute recognition of the psychology of its subjects.

When I think of these two individuals that I met and shook their hands, I see no intent to mislead. I can't think of any reason why a principled man such as Mattingly would blurt out something so controversial without he, himself believing it. And I can't think of a reason to doubt Chaikin on his professional assessment of Mattingly's personal nature and character. So here, in my brain, are these experiences. And late last fall Mitchell comes into the picture with his story about seeing non-terrestrial craft while he's in space.

Now that you've heard my story, what would your take be were you in my positioin? I think you can already guess mine.

P.S. For the record, the Admiral said he never had a cool car like Sinise did in the movie...but he wished he did!

New Antarctic Creatures Discovered

2009-04-21T01:46:00.000-05:00

Sea monsters, sea "squirts," and translucent octopi oh my! Yes, Antarctica truly is the final frontier on this small blue-green world. I've long wondered what lies beneath the ice that covers the forgotten continent. Well below the waves, an iridescent octopus flutters in the frigid depths:

Live Science has a nice in-depth article....

Captains Cousteau and Nemo would be proud!

Another City of the Dead

2009-04-21T00:39:00.001-05:00

This one lies in the Valley of the Kings in Egypt. Complete with mummies (of course!). It's not a new discovery--this is a travel article. What better way to spend your next holiday or vacation by digging up old friends! CNN's Paul Sussman gives a great first-person account of his own expedition.

FTA:

A few years back, when I was working as part of an archaeological mission in the Valley of the Kings in Egypt, I unearthed a slab of white limestone covered in ancient paint smears. More of that later. First, however, I should tell you about the 3,000 year-old gold jewelry.
I found the jewelry in a tomb known as KV56 (all burials in the Valley of the Kings are designated with a KV number, the most famous being KV62 -- Tutankhamun).

...and...

Among other objects, we pulled out a series of lotus-shaped gold necklace pendants, a miniature beaten-gold head of the goddess Hathor and a rectangular gold pectoral (chest-plate) link stamped with the cartouche, or royal name, of the pharaoh Seti ll (Davis had found 13 similar links which can now be viewed in the Cairo Museum). Exquisitely worked and perfectly preserved, these objects were the first, and to date only items of jewelry to have been found in the Valley since Howard Carter unearthed Tutankhamun in 1922.

Necropolis Unearthed!

2009-04-21T00:36:00.000-05:00

This is a page right out of the Mummy. A veritable "city of the dead" was discovered recently. From the Boston Globe:

ROME - Workers renovating a rugby stadium have uncovered a vast complex of tombs beneath Rome that mimic the houses, blocks and streets of a real city, officials said yesterday as they unveiled a series of new finds here.
Culture Ministry officials said that medieval pottery shards in the city of the dead, or necropolis, show the area may have been inhabited by the living during the Dark Ages after being used for centuries for burials during the Roman period.

and...

Archeologists restoring the imperial residences on the Palatine Hill, the heart of ancient Rome, believe they have discovered the underground passageway in which the despotic Emperor Caligula was murdered by his own guards.
The hill, which is honeycombed with ruins of palaces and villas, has also yielded frescoes and black-and-white mosaics in the first century BC home of a patrician, the ministry said in a statement.

"Dragons" Munch on Indonesian Fisherman

2009-04-21T00:23:00.000-05:00

This story actually terrifies me. Lizards are weird and repulsive right? Well imagine a big one-- longer than you are tall--chasing you down and munching on you until you bleed to death. Oh, and it carries deadly venom [not bacteria]* in it's saliva...

So at the very least, you'll be hurting big time, for a long time to come....if you survive. That poor guy ended up bleeding to death when Komodo Dragons tried to make a meal of him.

Yikes.

/props to CNN.

*Updated on 5-20-09, per new findings that indicate komodo's use venom not bacteria in their saliva as previously thought.

Hobbits Discovered!

2009-04-21T00:19:00.000-05:00

No, not the cute, cuddly, furry-footed, Elijah Wood variety. This kind:

...and that's supposedly a female. Well an artist's conception anyway. Scary, huh? I'm not sure that's even the "hobbit" they found, but it's definitely post-worthy material. It's those eyes (shudders).

Anyway, you've probably heard about this already from a few years back. But that one wasn't the real deal. This time, scientists are confident about their findings of a race of 'little people'.

FTA on MSNBC:

In an astonishing discovery that could rewrite the history of human evolution, scientists say they have found the skeleton of a new human species, a dwarf, marooned for eons in a tropical Lost World while modern humans rapidly colonized the rest of the planet.
The finding on a remote Indonesian island has stunned anthropologists like no other in recent memory. It is a fundamentally new creature that bears more of a resemblance to fictional, barefooted hobbits than modern humans.
Yet biologically speaking, it may have been closely related to us and perhaps even shared its caves with our ancestors.

4,000 Year-old Temple Discovered....

2009-04-21T00:12:00.000-05:00

Perhaps one of the oldest known religious sites was discovered recently--a temple dating back to antiquity.

From the MSNBC article:

NICOSIA, Cyprus - An Italian archaeologist claimed Friday to have discovered Cyprus' oldest religious site, which she said echoes descriptions in the Bible of temples in ancient Palestine.
Maria Rosaria Belgiorno said the 4,000-year-old triangular temple predates any other found on the east Mediterranean island by a millennium.

Playing catch up....

2009-04-21T00:08:00.001-05:00

Well I've had this idea to do this blog for a while. And while I'm sure it's not a new or even original thought, I have always considered it to be a nice way to catalog great source material for stories, scripts, etc. I think I held off because I couldn't really picture how it would flow. But tonight I finally decided to just start--and sometimes that's what's needed. That and a good name for the blog, which I'm still not sure about, but at least I finally picked one. Some of the stories for a while here will seem old, and that's because I haven't jumped on this when I started seeing stories. So for a while at least, you'll see some older articles. If I get the opportunity, I'll try to sprinkle in some newer finds.

Crossing the Threshold...

2009-04-20T23:55:00.000-05:00

Ever read a news story and thought that it sounded like a plot from a movie? Or seen a story on a newly discovered creature or scientific discovery and imagined what it would be like in a story or game? Well this blog is all about those "truth is stranger than fiction" aspects of our world that could actually become seeds in a growing imaginary saga. Think of this as part X-files, part Indiana Jones, part DaVinci Code. Or just think of it as a place to get new ideas for that project your working on.

So where does this goofy title come from? In Greek mythology, the hero Theseus was cast into a mysterious underground labyrinth and stalked by the half man-half bull minotaur. He used his wits to surprise and slay the beast, but he still had to escape the treacherous maze. He took with him no torch or lantern to light the way in the darkness below. He had only a spool of thread, which he unfurled as he entered the maze so he could find his way back out by touch alone. The thread was his anchor to the outside world and his way home. Without it, his adventure would have come to an untimely end forever trapped in the twists and turn of the labyrinth. And without the notion of it in his story, his his quest might not have had captivated generations of adventure seekers since.

So take note: this is your gate to a world of adventure that lies around every corner of the globe. Like the thread in the maze, you can pick up clues that might serve to inspire you as you weave your own weird, mystifying, and fantastic tales. Get ready to follow the THREADS OF ADVENTURE!