A new linguistic study claims to have found links between Siberian and Native American languages. It was my understanding linguistic techniques more or less fall apart after a few thousand years, but maybe they've come up with some new method.

Scientists have announced the discovery of the largest-known predatory dinosaur ever found in Europe. Torvosaurus gurneyi was much larger than its Jurassic contemporaries but still smaller than the big Cretaceous brutes like T. Rex.

Using new dating techniques, scientists have confirmed the oldest rocks yet found on Earth are in Australia. What's more, they're quite a bit older than previously thought, just 100 million years before the planet got rebooted when the Moon was formed. It indicates the planet was forming a crust much earlier than current theories predicted, and that water was present even then.

DNA testing is underway in an attempt to find the remains of the model for Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa. Yes, a bit creepy, but also a fascinating opportunity to get a look at how 16th century nobility lived, and died. Physical anthropology is an often under-appreciated window into how our ancestors lived. Hopefully this will throw some much needed light onto the field.

A new geological deposit that rivals the famous Burgess Shale has been found in Canada. In fact, it seems to be an extension of the Burgess formation, only it has more and better preserved fossils. Early history of life, FTW!

Using new techniques, scientists have determined the Permian mass-extinction even happened 10x faster than previously thought. They've also go a more precise date as to when it happened, and some of the data is allowing them to make a more definitive tie-in to the Siberian Traps volcanic event. That's always been the #1 suspect, but the dates have never quite squared up yet. I think it's only a matter of time, though, before it all lines up.

The oldest footprints found outside of Africa have turned up in a muddy estuary in the UK.

The field of prosthetic limbs seems to be progressing nicely. Right now the prototypes remind me of something a Terminator would use. Here's to hoping for long success and better miniaturization!

A mass grave found in Germany is finally yielding insights into just what the Justinian Plague actually was. It's far less well known than its fourteenth century counterpart but may very well have killed more people in its day. It certainly helped create those darkest of the dark ages.

New technology has allowed scientists to sequence the DNA of the remains of an 8000 year-old man. The findings, as with most things of this nature, confirm some theories, invalidate others, and also pose new questions. Because SCIENCE!

A simple change in filter rules has turned a dud into a success. Me, I'd think that particles traveling at energies a hundred times greater than the LHC would be a bit, well, "explodey." But I Am Not a Particle Physicist.

Scientists have announced the discovery of a canyon underneath the antarctic ice that dwarfs the Grand Canyon. I can't help but think this would probably end up filled with water, a-la Loch Ness, and so not be all THAT deep. Then again, who am I to stand between an editor and his juicy headline?

A new paper is finally detailing the rear portion of what's being called one of the most important fossil finds in the past decade. The creature, known as a "titkaalik," is a member of an extremely rare group called "tetrapodomorphs," creatures who are part of the transition from fins to legs. As usual, there's plenty of unexpected things that were found on the back end of this not-quite-fish.

This just in: ancient critters that lived in the ocean were colored more or less the same as modern critters that live in the ocean. Because it's so weird that water has held the same properties, basically forever. Meh, I guess it would be interesting if this didn't hold true.

A group of scientists has determined the presence of liquid magma is enough to trigger a supervolcano eruption. These super-massive eruptions are hundreds of times larger than any conventional eruption experienced in history. The good news is, apparently, that such an event would cause very noticeable changes in the vicinity of said supervolcano. Oh, and don't forget one of these things sits underneath Yellowstone. Sleep well!

A new type of artificial heart seems to be doing well in its first use in a human patient. Apparently it's very large, fitting only 86% of men and 65% of people in general, but it also seems like it provides more freedom. There's no mention of wires or tubes leading from the device to external machinery.

A pharma company has announced plans to 3D print a fully functioning human liver in 2014. Tons of testing is required before such things can be used in humans. In the meantime it and things like it will be invaluable tools for drug research.

A new study of a unique plant is providing insights into the evolution of flowers. It seems that about two hundred million years ago a "gene doubling" may have given the common ancestor of all flowering plants an extra tool kit to use for evolutionary experiments.

I always figured we'd eventually work out how to make replacement organs. I just didn't count on them being, well, printed. Faster, please.

Scientists have re-visited the iconic site where Neandertals first came to light and have confirmed they did indeed bury their dead. As far as I know, this was widely accepted since the 1950s when Shanidar was excavated, but confirmation is always nice.

This just in: our universe is just a holographic projection. I think. Something about a lower-complexity connection to somewhere without gravity. Check, please!

Newly analyzed post-cranial fossils has revealed that Paranthropus boisei was more strongly built than previously thought. Any time you find post-cranial remains of a hominid it's big news, because they are so incredibly rare.

Using brand-new techniques scientists have managed to recover DNA from a hominid fossil 400,000 years old. The results are, as expected, surprising and will likely force a complete re-think of human evolution. Or not. Hey, they have to keep that grant money flowing in somehow!

Well how else did you expect Tut to eat? Personally I think they don't have all that much evidence for exotic preservative techniques. And hooray for coating ribs with resin!

A new geologic study of Antarctica has revealed an active volcano buried deep beneath the ice. It's moving south at the rate of not quite 10 km per million years, and could erupt again at any time. Fun stuff!

Archeologists in France have announced the discovery of two new ancient and well-preserved burial complexes. The more modern one includes a female burial with a significantly remodeled skull. The archeologists claim this was a popular practice with European nobility of that era, but it's the first I'd heard of it.

You have to wade through a bizarre intro to get to it, but it seems that nature worked out how to evolve functional gears a very long time ago. Of course it'd be in a bug. Most everything really clever in natural engineering happens in insects, it seems.

A study of tooth enamel may be indicating that our ancient ancestors either used medicinal herbs, or ate the stomach contents of their kills. Nah, doesn't sound very tasty to me either. But I think one of the reasons people succeeded back in the day was they learned to eat absolutely anything that could be eaten.

New imaging techniques are allowing scientists to reconstruct ancient life forms in ever-greater detail. Plus they get to create really nifty neural diagrams of critters so old nobody's sure who, if anyone, is directly related to them.

It looks like we're getting ever-closer to a real Six Million Dollar Man. I still say we all need to fine The Guardian every time they use the word "boffin." I mean, really.

Look, I'm just saying if "more prone to sexual cannibalism" is part of a personality profile, that's probably not someone I want to know.

It seems women have been in charge of what goes on the walls for a very, very long time. The claim is, of course, contested, and to be honest I'm not sure he really has adequately explained how this doesn't represent teenaged boys.

Scientists have announced a nuclear fusion experiment has "broken even" for the very first time. No, it's still not putting out more total energy than it's putting in and yes, they're still saying "real" fusion is 20-50 years away, but HEY! Look at all those shiny toys!

A relief carved into the base of an ancient tower has allowed archeologists to date the founding of an ancient Italian city right down to the day. Bonus: the reliefs are penises that connect (ha!) the city more closely to the emperor Augustus than was previously understood.

The discovery of ultra-rare fossilized pollen has pushed the origin of flowering plants back 100 million years. Flowers are widely seen as having evolved as a response to dinosaur predation. So, next time you see a pretty flower on a tree, remember it got there because of the dinos!

Scientists have developed a new "cheaper-smaller-faster" particle accelerator. A close read seems to indicate that no, you won't be able to build an LHC in your back yard with one of them, but it does seem to promise new kinds of x-ray scanners and other things like that.

Scientists have announced that the Earth's atmosphere was rich with oxygen far earlier than previously thought. The discovery implies that very complex metabolic systems like photosynthesis evolved very quickly in Earth's history.

A new jewel-like geometric shape promises to vastly simplify quantum calculations. It may even provide the step needed to create a viable theory of quantum gravity, something that's eluded the field for decades. I think. Quantum physics is hard!

The everlasting tennis match that is the field of megafauna extinction in North America research has started another round. People showed up, all the big things died. This seems like a pretty straightforward equation to me, but simple and straightforward does not a good grant proposal make. And, really, when has nature ever been simple?

The good: Scientists have regressed living adult tissue into stem cells.

The bad: Thing went all cancer-y after that

Cancer seems to be a common failure in stem cell research. Getting them to turn on isn't the problem, it's getting them to turn off.

A new study has revealed the evolutionary phenomena of convergence has far deeper effects than previously thought. I guess there really isn't all that many different ways to screw together a bat.

Why go through complex finite element analysis when you can just pick one up and drop it? As with most big impacts, it doesn't look all that bad from the outside. It's the interior shots that bring the forces involved to life.

Scientists are accumulating more evidence that another element exists at the far end of the periodic table. Like most of the newer ones, it's very radioactive and very unstable, assuming it's not just some glitch in the sensors. From what I've read, they keep trying because eventually they may ramp up to a heavy element that sticks around for awhile, and who knows what it'll be good for?

Scientists have found direct evidence that Europeans, at least, have been using spices to flavor their food for at least six thousand years. Yeah, this is one of those "common sense requires evidence, too" sort of studies. But, hey, even common sense answers usually yield interesting details.

Scientists have now confirmed a necklace older than the pyramids is made up in part of meteorite. The necklace was created a full two thousand years before iron was in common use.

Scientists have announced the discovery of specialized bone tools that were used by Neandertals. One of the hallmarks of earlier hominids was their toolkits were based on stone. Even on the occasions they did use other materials, the tool was still the same shape. However, it seems quite possible they copied the tool instead of came up with it on their own. Bonus: We know what the bone tool does because, at least 50,000 years later, people are still using them.

Hooray for big public works projects in first-world countries! The archeologists get to find all the cool stuff. And, unlike over here in America, I don't think there are any pesky repatriation laws in the UK. Dig 'em up and examine the heck out of 'em, boys! The medieval history geek in me wishes it was about five hundred years older or so, but then I remember people in the 17th century didn't really live THAT much differently than their ancestors in the 11th. With such a cross-section of people, the demographic information should prove fascinating.

A group of scientists have announced that our genetic "Adam" lived about 150,000 years ago. Unless you ask a different group of scientists, who think it was about 250,000 years ago. And then when you ask yet another different set, they say something like 500,000 years ago. In a nutshell, they're doing cool stuff you won't completely understand so you really should renew their grants. Because SCIENCE.

A new study has concluded that humans probably evolved social monogamy as a defense against male infanticide. Not just humans, but other higher primates as well.

Scientists have worked out how to manifest quantum effects on ever-larger objects. I think. Look, it's quantum mechanics. If it was easy to understand, we'd all be doing it.

Scientists have announced the discovery of the oldest known calendar. The collection of holes was found on the grounds of an old Scottish castle, and provide a lunar calendar as well as a fix for the winter solstice. At ten thousand years, it's "thousands" of years older than any previously known calendar. Looks like even ancient man needed an alarm clock.

Another day, another note that you need to keep your infant sleeping on its back. Normally, though, flat-spotting is caused by a brake bias problem.

The oldest definitive evidence of flowers being used to decorate a grave has been discovered in Israel. No, it's not the neandertal stuff you read about in high school. Instead, this representative of the "Natufian" culture, about 12,000 years ago.

Discovery: proteins responsible for our ability to taste are actually found throughout the body, and neutralizing the ones in mouse testicles (stay with me here) render those mice sterile. Headline? Testicles have Taste Receptors. Which, now that I think about it, is factually true, and it definitely got my attention. Geeze it's like these headline writers are good at their job or something.

My God, Martha, there's booze up in them galaxies. There's some sort of quantum something involved, and they got it to work in the lab, and when I read the article it seems like maybe it's about alcohols getting destroyed rather than created. Physics is hard.

A new anatomical study is claiming to have figured out why humans are so good at throwing things. Turns out our upper bodies didn't only evolve for holding tools. It also evolved to toss them. It's nice to see an article that talks about something we're good at, instead of how much better some other species is. Go humans!

Using (apparently) a drill and a bunch of plastic wrap, scientists have figured out how to make a wall nearly transparent to sound. What I'm interested in is just how many holes does it take, and how big are they? It's plenty easy to make a wall transparent to sound if, for example, there's a hole as big as a bowling ball in it. Doesn't do much for the decor, though.

Scientists have announced the discovery of a previously unknown Khmer city hidden in the jungle for the past 1200 years. I'm expecting a dark and hungry god to emerge from that vicinity shortly, but that's probably because I have friends who obsess over HP Lovecraft. Nah, it's ok. They're colorful friends!

A decade-long study of Cheetahs using an innovative electronic collar is revealing all sorts of new facts about the world's fastest land animal. Even running at a "slow" 35 mph, it's impressive. Maneuvering at a speed half-again as fast is even more so.

A group of scientists are claiming to have finally figured out how marine mammals hold their breath for such incredibly long times. It seems the culprit is a special sort of oxygen-storing protein that in the rest of the mammal word gets too "sticky" to be of much use. In marine mammals, an adaptation allows this protein to leverage muscles as a kind of "oxygen battery."

Those crazy scientists are at it again, playing with super-cold atoms and making them lean back and forth. Supposedly it all could have applications in super computing, but I think it's mostly just them mucking about with lasers. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

A frog species recently declared extinct has instead proved simply be living in a really awful neck of the woods. Living in a miserable place does seem to be a pretty effective strategy at keeping humans at bay.

A new, wide-ranging study of fossil teeth is providing new insight into how our ancestors transitioned from forests to grasslands as their primary habitat. While the article makes it sound like this is all very new information, the transition from woodland to savannah has been widely acknowledged since at least the 1980s. What this mainly seems to have done is refine the timeline, give greater information on how many species were out there at any given time, and exactly what they ate.

A new study that combines engineering, anatomy, and CGI simulations has discovered that the dinosaur Allosaurus ate things in a way quite different than the younger, more famous T. Rex. In fact, its technique seems to most closely resemble that of modern small falcons. Birds of a... what am I saying? Dinosaurs are weird!

A new study on cut marks has pushed the date humans started throwing spears back to 90,000 years. Cut mark studies have been around a long time. I remember them back when I was an undergrad in the mid-80s. You'd think someone would've thought to do this sooner, but I guess not. At any rate, now that they know what to look for, I'll be the date gets pushed back even further as new finds come to light.

Scientists have announced the discovery of the oldest known fossils of both apes and monkeys. The finds date to about 25 million years ago, which puts them much closer to the predicted split between the two genera than anything else found to-date. The fossils themselves aren't much... a jaw fragment and a single tooth. However, now that they know where to look for these sorts of fossils, I'll bet there will be better finds on the way.

A new fossil study has revealed that even our oldest relatives had ears that resembled ours. No, not the fleshy bits on the outside, but apparently one (and only one) of the three ear bones quite strongly resembled our own. No, I don't know what it really means, either. I guess we'll get the answer file when they get their grant renewed.

A carnivorous relative of the tomato seems to be the most genetically "pure" living thing found to-date. In other news, the common tomato has a carnivorous cousin. Can Attack of the Killer Humped Bladderwort be far behind? I think not!

It seems the effort to grow meat in a vat has taken another step forward. Cattle take up a lot of space, and the whole business of the slaughterhouse makes me a bit queasy. If this ends up costing, say, .00001% of what it costs now, hell I might even try it.

Most theories of the origin of the universe predict an equal amount of matter and antimatter was created. Explaining why it all didn't annihilate itself the very next instant just went all pear-shaped. Particle physics is, like, you know, hard and stuff. I'll take their word for it.

Scientists using a new deep-diving submersible are claiming to have found an original piece of the long-lost continent, Pangaea. Which is a little strange to me. Just about any rocks that have, say, dinosaur fossils pretty much must be from Pangaea, right? Maybe I'm missing something. That's usually the case.

A British historian is claiming to have discovered the actual location of the hanging gardens of Babylon. If they're right, it should more properly be called "the hanging gardens of Assyria." Relying on new translations of old sources can be problematic, but it's not like this is the only person in the world who can translate that stuff. Someone else can take a close look, too.

A new study has found at least some evidence that sucking on your kid's pacifier can provide substantial protection against allergies and asthma. The findings are, of course, controversial and even the authors admit it's not conclusive. We would do this occasionally when Olivia was little, and she is mostly allergy-free. Of course, that could also have something to do with growing up in her very own petting zoo, so even we can't provide even anecdotal support for any of this.

Scientists have found clear physical evidence of cannibalism in England's first permanent settlement in the New World. And, if the reconstruction is accurate, they had pretty good taste, indeed.

Thank you, thank you. I'll be here all week!

A group of scientists has finally figured out a way to test whether or not a specific crystal formation vibrates through time instead of space. The "my little physicist" explanation seems to be: there's a mathematical construct that, if it can be built in the form of a crystal, will vibrate without expending energy or ever winding down. I think. Sounds cool, especially now that they can test it.

It seems that humans aren't the only creatures to have evolved in Africa. Of course, I'm pretty sure Africa wasn't actually Africa, in appearance or location, at the start of the Triassic. Also, it may not be that the creatures evolved in that spot. Rather, it may simply be a case of the right stratigraphy being exposed in that precise spot. Anyway, it's a damned old dinosaur, is all I'm sayin'...

Canadian scientists are using a sophisticated light source to see if they can figure out what color a specific dinosaur was. I'm not so sure this is the only "3D dinosaur skin fossil." I distinctly remember that the natural history museum in New York has a fossil on display that has intact skin. Of course, that could be part of the same fossil.

New experiments are revealing that the Earth's core is much hotter than previously thought. As in, "hotter than the surface of the sun" hot. However, this is actually good news, since it allows the reconciliation of several otherwise good models with the observed data.

A new archeological study is indicating that the origins of Mayan civilization are more complicated than previously thought. Turns out the earliest indicators of Mayan civilization pre-date the older and even more mysterious Olmec, but the influence of that civilization is undeniable.

A new genetic study of ancient human remains in Europe has revealed important, and previously unknown, migrations in the distant past. One problem with using archeology alone is that a new population may replace the people but keep using their tech. DNA analysis will spot that change.

Egyptian archeologists have announced the discovery of the oldest port in the world. Because of our collapsed view of history, "old" to us usually means Greco-Roman, or the very last pharaohs of the New Kingdom. What's been found this time is something much older, going right back to the time the pyramids were being built. They know this because they found receipts for the stone that built them on the site. No, really!

A new study is providing more evidence that the Flores hominids were in fact a dwarf species. Which won't stop critics from a new round of "is too!" This is anthropology, after all. If it can't be argued endlessly until the proponents of each side are literally dead, what fun is there?

Scientists have announced the successful implantation of a lab-grown kidney in a rat. This is by far the most complex organ grown in a lab. The trick, apparently, is in the way the cells are introduced to the "scaffold" that they grow on. The next step will be scaling up the process to see if it can create human-sized (i.e., pig) organs.

A fossil formed when a flood washed out a group of dinosaur nests has revealed at least one species to be the fastest growing animal yet discovered. Bonus: they also seem to have found organic matter, by far the oldest example of such stuff found so far.

A new study has provided evidence that size does indeed actually matter. Radical feminists and their ilk will be outraged, I'm sure. Those of us who understand that a century or so of radical politics does not trump millions of years of evolution, not so much.

Scientists have announced the discovery of a new archeology site with the ruins of a building Abraham himself could've walked through. Other good news: at least some parts of Iraq are now stable enough for Milquetoast scientists to poke around in.

Scientists have announced the discovery of the "Plutoneion," a cave entrance the ancients regarded as a gate to hell. It still works, too. The archeologists reported several birds dropping dead near it after it'd been excavated. Maybe they'll bring in a geologist next time to figure out what makes the thing tick.

It took training and probably a whole helluva lot of fish, but biologists have manage to train a sea lion to "keep the beat." At first I thought maybe she was just shaking her head, but it does seem like she's responding to the music itself. Ellen and I were just talking about how research said it was just humans and parrots who were the only ones to perceive music. Now we know better.

A German scientist is claiming to have solved an intriguing riddle about some geography you've never heard of. Well, I'd never heard of it, at any rate. And, really, that's all that important.

Scientists at the University of Texas have created yet another kind of invisibility cloak. It takes awhile for them to admit it, but eventually they come clean and explain it's a cloak against radar, not visible light. Still likely to be useful, but far from something Harry Potter would find handy.

It looks like your next super-battery may be made in a DVD player. Sort of. I remember hearing about graphene's capacity (ha!) to story electricity some time ago, but the article itself is quite recent. Cheap power storage, FTW!

A new study of volcanic rocks has confirmed at least one mass extinction event was caused by massive "flood basalt events". In other words, a metric buttload of lava. I think then going on to claim that all mass extinctions are caused by volcanism seems a bit much, but I'm not a geologist, or paleontologist. But, hey, if it keeps the grant money flowing have at it.

Those of you occasionally confronted with someone who insists "evolution has never been observed" now have another arrow for your quiver. Those of you who think a 60 mph armadillo is inevitable will also be pleased.

The latest idea for the extinction of Neandertals is (spins the wheel o' death)... big eyes. Me, I still think a gradual out-compete combined with interbreeding with modern humans did them in, but I'm no scientist.

The more you know: gold deposits form when deep earthquakes rip the crust apart so fast the subsequent "flash boil" of fluid causes the mineral to fall. Which is to say, the Earth sharts, just like you and me.

Was that wrong? Should I not have said that?

A new study of animal bones in ancient homes is suggesting Nendertals may owe their extinction to an inability to "prey shift." It seems that, as megafauna gradually disappeared, early modern humans shifted to rabbits, but Neandertals didn't.

What better way to pass the day than with a brief summary of current thinking around the Permian mass extinction? Me, I'd put money on the "everything going wrong at once" square. It's the only way to be sure.

Not news: dead camel. News: an ancient, mummified camel found in the Arctic. The genetic analysis has revealed it was much more closely related to modern versions than expected, indicating the grumpy beasts likely evolved in freezing conditions, not blasted deserts.

If this report is to be believed, the mysteries of quantum mechanics may be getting at least a little less wacky. There's definitely something about light polarization in there, and the obligatory reference to that darned cat. You're smarter than me. Go look and tell me what it means.

A new man-made material is pushing the bounds of high-temperature superconductivity. Just exactly how high, the article doesn't specify. In fact, a careful reading seems to indicate whatever they've made isn't directly superconducting, but rather provides insight into the behavior of magnetic fields which could lead to new superconductors. Oh, and the stuff sounds like it's really expensive, too.

I think these guys are having way too much fun: scientists have figured out how to re-animate a dead sparrow using off-the-shelf electronics. They were studying male aggression, and needed something that could be angry on cue. Considering the robot eventually got its head bitten off, it would seem they succeeded. A robot with a shelf life. Whoda thought it?

It looks like we've been boozing it up for a very, very long time now. I'll go a step further than the article and speculate that the ability to digest fermented fruit may very well have been what drew a specific set of apes down from the trees. Certainly the sudden appearance of a much more powerful digestion enzyme means SOMETHING.

A group of Ohio State scientists has developed a reactor that chemically burns coal, creating energy while capturing almost all the CO2 generated. You have to go all the way to the bottom of the article before they mention how expensive it is. "Beating" a 35% increase still means it's much more expensive than existing technologies. But then, that's always been the problem with almost all green power generation. Still, that's just engineering. If they can pull the costs down to the point it's competitive, I'm all for it.

This just in: systems with broadly similar characteristics behave in roughly the same fashion. In this case, mosh pits seem to look a lot like gasses in "2D equilibrium." No, I'm not completely sure what that is, either. What it mostly proves is I'm old enough to be puzzled by the "heavy metal = mosh pit" assumption. All my metal gods are old enough now to get put in a hospital by such shenanigans.

Watch out folks, they're doing science! Because everyone knows that, when your average American teenager figures out how to get drunker, faster, they're absolutely gonna stay away from it. The more you know!

Researchers at Microsoft are developing a software package that can predict the future. I think. It sounded impressive as hell, anyway. Isn't this sort of thing that made Asimov's Foundation series tick?

A newly described fossil has pushed back the evolution of intestinal parasites by more than 100 million years. Because knowing just when horrifically nasty critters first showed up is important. Meh, ok, not really, but part of what makes science fun is how it can be interesting AND useless. Half the time, hell maybe more than half the time, someone eventually does find a use for it.

A new study of populations in Siberia has revealed previously unknown genetic adaptations to the cold. The thing about fat turning into heat has been known for quite some time. Maybe these populations are more efficient at it? Then again, since something like a third of all Eurasian people are related to Genghis Kahn (as I recall, anyway), maybe it's just that the genes have been distributed throughout the world's populations.

Scientists at IBM, of all places, has developed a new polymer that beats even antibiotic-resistant bacteria. According to the scientists, its action is something the bugs won't be able to defeat. Me, I think it'll result in bugs as tough as ball bearings. But that'll probably make them vulnerable to other things. Winning!

Scientists have developed yet another working version of a tractor beam. This one has the potential for many small-scale uses. Unfortunately it would seem this one would fry bigger stuff, so it's no use trapping that damned freighter that blasted its way out of Mos Iseley.

Scientists have discovered that dung beetles can use the Milky Way itself to navigate. One of nature's most gargantuan constructs being used to help one of its most humble creatures to protect a ball of crap has a certain... symmetry to it. Humbling from both ends of the spectrum, sort of thing.

A group of scientists has developed the most fluid-resistant surface known. They're claiming it'll be useful for stain-resistant clothing and ultra-low drag paint for ships. After reading about how it's applied, I'm not sure how they'd get something like that to work over a really wide area. But I'm not a materials scientist.

A process invented by the person who would eventually become the first president of Israel may be providing us a diesel substitute soon. There were a lot of "once we do this" -es, which is usually a code phrase for "don't really expect much," so I'm not sure I will. Still, it's another team working the problem, and eventually SOMEONE will make it work. Will it make the greens happy? If all they were really interested in was improving the environment, I'd say, "yes." I'm not actually gonna say it, though.

Ever wonder what would happen if you gave a chimp the remote to a full-access cable box? Pretty much what you'd expect. Brings a whole new meaning to the term, "spank the monkey," I'll give you that. I wonder if they'd be more interested in films with chimps in the... rmm... "lead roles?" One of the things you're forced to learn as part of an anthropology degree is such films most definitely exist.

Geothermal technology seems to be moving in the right direction. I'm not sure it helps anyone who doesn't live next to an extinct volcano, but what do I know? Apparently "hydroshearing" is quite different from the better-known fracking, but it's not completely clear to me why this might be. It'd be nice to see my tax dollars (the DoE is in for half) get some positive alternative energy results, but I'm not holding my breath.

Scientists have discovered that shark embryos are able to sense when predators are near, and hide from them. The real challenge: they do it while they're still inside the egg. It's suggested the observations may lead to more effective shark repellant. I don't quite understand how that might work but hey, this is science! If it had a practical application they'd call it engineering.

A group of scientists are using guppies in an attempt to prove that big brains are rare because of the price an animal must pay to get them. Bonus: It seems that a mathematic genius in the guppy world consists of the ability to count to four.

A team of scientists has announced they've figured out how to cool something below 0K. If you're thinking, "but nothing can go below zero Kelvin, that's the point!" you'd be right there with me. Apparently, as with most things I learned in science class, the truth is more complicated than that. I think. Look, I was told there would be no math...

A team of Chinese scientists has revisited an iconic anthropological dig, and their findings could shed light on any number of riddles involving our ancestors. Or, in the particular case of Peking Man, our ancient cousins. Genetic study still seems to indicate that whatever species this hominid might end up being, it isn't in our direct line of descent. That said, they're still plenty close enough to provide information about how they, and by extension we, survived in such an incredibly harsh time.

Scientists have announced the discovery of the oldest fossils found to-date. At some 3.5 billion years old, they represent a snapshot of the Earth taken when it was only a quarter of its present age. Unfortunately it's not fossilized critters that they've found, rather the remains of structures that they built. The finding is, of course, controversial but if it holds up it will provide much more information about what life was like in our remote past.

It would seem that, at least occasionally, we haven't always been complete bastards to each other. Fans of The Clan of the Cave Bear should recognize "Shanidar-1," who was the model for the character Creb.

A new anatomical study of the human hand is suggesting fighting may have influenced its shape as much as the need to manipulate objects. The article mentions some pretty interesting observations, but not any predictions to bolster the theory.

So now we need to add a single species of microbe to the list of things that may have caused the Permian mass extinction event. Me, I suspect there likely isn't a single cause for something so disruptive it killed off 90% of all the species on the planet. But it does make for an interesting idea.

New, albeit unpublished, evidence discovered with a mysterious skeleton found buried under a parking lot apparently confirm that Richard III's body has been rediscovered. Apparently the release of the evidence is being held up pending the release of a documentary that, if I'm reading it correctly, was ultimately the source of funding for the whole project. Seems fair to me, but I have these wacky ideas that people who pay for things have a right to them. Such a silly belief in this day and age, I know...

By studying a rare sea snail that incorporates iron in its shell, scientists believe they'll be able to create an entirely new class of more effective body armor. In other news, there's a snail out there with an iron shell, and boy is it UGLY.

Efforts to harness our own immune system to fight cancer appear to be proceeding apace. The side effects sound pretty gnarly, but apparently the current "last ditch" cancer treatment, bone-marrow transplant, is even worse. As is commonly said with these sorts of stories, "faster, please."

A group of Chinese scientists has worked out a way to create neuron cells from ordinary urine. The cells did not turn cancerous, a big problem with stem cells, and were created in a significantly shorter time than other methods. To paraphrase Deng Xiaopeng, where the cells come from doesn't matter, as long as they fix the problem.

A new genetic study has shad new light on the origins of the Romani, better know to most of us as Gypsies. It seems they're originally from northwest India, and moved seemingly as a unit about fifteen hundred years ago.

New artifact finds on various Mediterranean islands may cause some of our ancient cousins to add the name "sailor" to their resumes. The emphasis here is "may." So far the new stuff doesn't seem to be older than the humanity that looked at you in the mirror this morning. One of the ways to differentiate hominid lines is the stone tools they make. In a strange way, it's as if technology was hard-wired into our earliest ancestors, whose toolkits varied little if at all in their history, sometimes for millions of years. I find it strange this aspect was not mentioned in the article. In other words, if there were Neandertal sailors, we should be able to spot that by the tools.

By using materials that mimic the structures found on the back of a desert beetle, MIT scientists have announced the invention of a self-filling water bottle. Strangely, it still seems to need a power source to work. I wonder how they'll manage to keep the bottle open to the air but closed to all the bugs?

At 6ft 8in tall, he would have been easily eligible to compete amongst those giants of sport in the U.S. basketball leagues today.

In third-century AD Rome, where men averaged only about 5ft 6in, he would have been a giant the likes of which most people had never seen.

It's no legend - archaeologists believe have discovered the first complete ancient skeleton of a person with gigantism near the capital of the ancient empire.

Read then entire article here.

No... no word from David on this either.

A recent re-examination of 500,000 year-old stone weapons is forcing scientists to re-think the history of technology and our ancestors. Wear studies have revealed that hafted weapons like arrowheads have been around far longer than previously thought.

By using advanced brain scanners, scientists have proven a man assessed as completely vegetative is in fact conscious and aware. Fortunately, unlike that old Metallica video and the movie clip it used, he's not tapping out "kill me" or anything like that. The findings will likely force a re-assessment in how patients are judged to be "completely nonresponsive."

Ever wonder why certain musical chords just sound better than others? You're not the only one. That we hear music at all, and in a way that's mathematically so predictable and regular, is to me the larger mystery.

The latest news from everyone's favorite doomsday device has put paid some of the more popular theories of supersymmetry. Most people think the Large Hadron Collider will spend its most productive days discovering new particles and proving new theories, but DIS-proving things is every bit as important. Falsifiability is, after all, at the core of science. If you can't somehow prove a thing wrong, it's simply not science.

NASA engineers have teamed with their European counterparts to create network technologies that can be used at interplanetary distances. I can't help but think the article may be oversimplifying things a bit. I'm reading the ultimate resolution as some sort of store-and-forward technology, which is a pretty huge "duh" for anyone who knows much about high latency environments.

A new study of stone tools found in South Africa is pushing back the time scientists believe humans became "culturally" modern. The problem is that we seem to have reached our modern anatomy tens of thousands of years before we can find any evidence of (comparatively) advanced culture or technology. Some say this is just the result of a patchy fossil record. Others claim some other, so far mysterious, things needed to happen before we could achieve our full potential. The discovery of these "microliths" would lend credence to the "spotty record" camp.

Which, of course, will mean yet another slow-motion flame fest in the academic journals. Nobody in anthropology comes up with an original idea without a decades-long trial by fire.

Specimens of a whale so rare it's never been seen alive have been found on the coast of New Zealand. The spade toothed whale was previously only known from a few skull fragments, the last of which was collected more than 25 years ago. The two whole specimens are the remains of a mother and calf who beached themselves two years ago. The find almost went unremarked because conservationists misidentified the remains at first.

British archeologists have found evidence that, while you and I think vampires are (at best) something scary that doesn't sparkle our ancestors took them all too seriously. It'd be nice to think all that happened to a corpse, and not someone who could still feel. It'll help me sleep at night, at least.

Scientists have described nine new species of tree tarantula. Now there are 16 different kinds of terror that crawl in the trees. Of jungles. Which is yet another reason why I have no plans for visiting any rain forest anywhere. Ever.

By using a giant genetic dataset, a group of scientists has determined that vision likely evolved around 700 million years ago. The conclusion was reached after comparing all the relevant genetic information responsible for the creation of opsins, a substance vital to vision. And by "all," they apparently mean creatures as diverse as sponges and, well, people.

A new, exceptionally well-preserved hominid fossil is revealing new details about how our earliest ancestors may have lived. At first I stumbled over the idea that they could tell if a three year-old juvenile was female, because in humans there aren't any good tell-tales in the skeleton to reveal this. Then I remembered A. afarensis was actually not THAT human, so it probably matured a lot faster than we do.

A bird fossil found in an unexpected place has led to a re-thinking of why feathers evolved in the first place. I mean, something had to make those things look better. Couldn't get much worse!

Funny, I always thought it was like when my kid spits water: scientists have, finally?, worked out how the archer fish manages to knock even firmly-attached prey into the water. It's an Italian study, so it's not like any of our tax dollars were used. Science is cool!

By using algebraic equations MIT scientists have figured out a way to increase bandwidth speeds ten-fold. The increase does not require more transmitters, power, or anything else but math. I was told there would be no math.

That's a mighty large parrot: scientists have discovered that "white whales" have the ability to mimic human speech. Didn't they used to call them beluga whales? At any rate, it seems the capability was documented more than thirty years ago, but the research was buried and forgotten until recently. Or, something to that effect. The article isn't particularly clear about that, IMO.

Using a new scanning system Oxford scientists are hoping to finally decipher and translate one of the last remaining caches of unknown ancient writing. The scanner allows them to see the more than five thousand year-old words far more clearly, and by posting the results online it's hoped "crowdsourcing" can provide a valuable resource to make the final translation.

By using sediments from a lake in Japan, scientists are planning on pushing carbon 14 "calibration" back much further than it was before. The initial theories around C14 dating assumed carbon absorption was constant, but it was later discovered this was not the case. Tree rings were used to account for variations but only went back about 14k years. The new data promises to push that marker back all the way to 50k+ years.

A new scientific paper has described a specific sort of crystal that i symmetrical in time instead of space. I think. There's some sort of folderol about perpetual motion in there, and quantum computers, too. This sort of physics makes my head hurt.

A recently-completed laser scan of everyone's favorite enigmatic set of lumpy stones has revealed more previously undiscovered details about Stonehenge. This time, they were able to resolve hundreds of small decorations that have long since weathered away to invisibility to the naked eye. It also revealed which stones were the most heavily worked, which provided new insights into how the monument may have functioned.

Using new techniques scientists have created healthy mice from eggs made from skin stem cells. The feat is (apparently) a technical tour-de-force, but practical applications in human medicine are still a long way off.

Scientists have announced the discovery of a very early, very small, VERY ugly kind of dinosaur. The fossil itself was collected nearly fifty years ago, and was examined by scientists nearly thirty years ago, but its significance wasn't understood until very recently. Slow scientist is slow.

Scientists have announced their intention to retrieve fresh samples of the Earth's mantle for the first time. They'll have to figure out how to drill a hole not quite four miles deep using a ship floating who knows how high over a specific, as yet undetermined, spot in the Pacific Ocean. Who says big science is restricted to physics?

Scientists have worked out a way to create a black hole laser. The article almost certainly oversimplifies it and it still doesn't make complete sense to me. There seems to be some way to create teeny-tiny black holes and their time-reversed equivalent to create a channel that can be used to create laser light. I think. I'm gonna be over in the corner soaking my head.

A small species of African mouse has a remarkable ability, not seen in any other known mammal. If it helps push us further down the "grow your own organs" path, I'm all for it.

A new genetic study is implying we only left Africa after a single mutation allowed our ancestors exploit plants as food more effectively. Which the author of the article naturally turns into "become vegetarian," because after that it's quite obvious we all turned to plants as our exclusive source of food, right?

New tests of different geometric shapes has revealed that warp drive may not be as impossible as once previously thought. If I'm reading it correctly, it's still far more energy than we can easily generate nowadays, but at least it's not requiring the conversion of an entire large planet to work.

Scientists working at IBM have announced the ability to image molecules in such detail that the properties of atomic bonds can be made out. The measurements are so sensitive even vibrations from temperature differences must be removed, and so they're taken at -268C, which is... really cold... in Fahrenheit. And then it gets REALLY complicated.

A scientist is using a 7000 year-old technology discovered by ancient Egyptians to put the finishing touches on his new 3D ceramic printing technology. Right now it seems to turn everything an, admittedly nice, bluish color, which may limit the appeal. Then again, that's just engineering, so if the thing takes off I can't help but think the color limitation will go away.

British archeologists have announced they've discovered what they believe to be a strong candidate for the bones of Richard III. He was buried in a church near the field where he fell, but, like most monastery churches of the era, it was razed with its location long forgotten. The remains are consistent with contemporary descriptions of the king, although (predictably) nothing like the exaggerated descriptions found in Shakespeare's play.

Neuroscience graduate students have discovered a technique that allows them to imprint short term memories directly onto a brain. For now, at least, it's done with hapless rat brain tissue, and it's not completely clear exactly what a living creature would experience "remembering" these things. Frankenmemories!

Not content with the European Union kicking Greece in the nuts every few months, it looks like God is going to let nature have a few goes as well. Still, magma building up under Santorini is not the same as Santorini going kerplooey. Heck, it may even make trips over there cheaper. I think I'll give touring that specific island a pass, thought.

Scientists have announced a new distance record in transmitting quantum state information. I'm sure I'm getting this wrong, but I *think* it will mean we're one step closer to instantaneous communications that might be faster than the speed of light. Or some sort of confusing thing that'll put a cat in a box with a sandwich. HMmm... Sandwiches...

Sometimes tiny things can overturn large constructs. Like how three little photons are threatening to overturn entire classes of quantum gravity theory. I'm impressed they worked out how to probe Planck-scale phenomena without an infinitely powerful energy source. Controversial? Duh.

Well, it did turn out that ulcers were caused by bacteria: a new report claims a common facial disease is actually caused by mite poop. I have a few relatives who suffer from rosacea. This may make them squirm a bit (it makes me squirm a bit), but if it means more effective treatments, I'm all for it.

By using DNA analysis techniques, scientists have finally solved the mystery of the "monstrous larva." First discovered in the guts of fish back in the 19th century, Cerataspis monstrosa was so weird looking nobody could figure out what, exactly, it was meant to grow into. Turns out, it's a shrimp.

By using bug traps enhanced with artificially intelligent programs, scientists are attempting to battle a well-known agricultural pest on a different playing field. When the damage caused by the oriental fruit fly is counted in the billions of dollars, it's a war well worth fighting.

By using tools more commonly applied to tracking disease outbreaks, a group of scientists now believe they have proof that all Indo-European languages evolved from something spoken in what is now Turkey, 9500 years ago. People have been trying to peg this sort of thing for generations, and I can't help but be surprised this specific technique hasn't been tried before. Expect a long, slow firefight in academic journals to commence oh, any second now.

By improving on a Japanese design created in the 1990s, scientists have been able to halve the cost of harvesting uranium from seawater. It's estimated there's enough of the stuff in the oceans to power all the world's nuclear power plants for more than six THOUSAND years. Yes, it's still five times more expensive than pulling it out of the ground, but that's just engineering. If we want it, it's there for the taking.

Scientists have announced the discovery of the oldest known modern human fossils in Asia. The climate conditions in the area at the time of migration are very poor for fossil formation, so such finds are extremely rare. The location suggests an alternate route for our move from Africa to Asia, and could provide valuable DNA information as well.

Yet another reason to keep cave exploring to the guys on Animal Planet and the Travel Channel: scientists have discovered an entire new family of "large" cave spiders in an Oregon cavern. Large being, from eyeballing the photo, about two inches or so. Small by person standards but I'll concede large by a "holy-sh-t-it's-a-spider!!!" standards.

I'll see your giant optical laser and raise you a solid-state maser. Yeah, maser. Does for microwaves what lasers do for visible light. And with cheap materials, no less! Various comments seem to indicate this'll have a big impact in telecommunications, where large microwave towers have to overcome scattering and interference.

Steve U. gets a no-prize that might look like his (and our) million-times-great grandpa for bringing us yet another possible hominid in our family tree. I think we're now up to something like seven bipedal hominids wandering the rift valley about 2 million years ago. There weren't much more ape species around at the time, as I recall. Controversy? Hey, these are Anthropologists we're talking about. The only time they stop bickering is when they die.

Elephants have long been known to communicate with infrasonic sound, sound pitched so low it's below what a human can hear. However, the mechanism to generate the sound wasn't known, with theories of conventional vocalization competing with others that would have the sound generated in a way similar to a cat's purr. While the image of a multi-ton cat buzz is appealing, new evidence seems to indicate something else.

Some really cool CT scans of mummies!

Scientists have announced the discovery of an idol cast down by a people made famous for the practice by the Bible. A less informative article that contains a picture of said statue is here. Sometimes it's important not to forget that the Bible also includes a chronicle of the Levant three thousand years ago. It can be hard to tease out sometimes, but it's there.

Scientists have announced the discovery of the oldest-known use of poison by humans. The discovery of the artifacts in a cave in South Africa also push back the start of the late Stone Age in Africa by about 20,000 years. As if that weren't enough, it also appears to fill a gap in the archeological history of the area. Pretty fancy for bits of wood and beeswax!

Scientists have announced the discovery of a "dramatic" new Mayan temple. From the article: "Some 1,600 years ago, the Temple of the Night Sun was a blood-red beacon visible for miles and adorned with giant masks of the Maya sun god as a shark, blood drinker, and jaguar." Pretty neat!

Just when you thought the insect world had thought of everything, scientists discover a species of termite that "explode" when confronted with enemies. Though, after watching the brief video, I think it would be more accurate to say "extrudes poison," which is still pretty damned weird. For "exploding insect, actual," take a look at bombardier beetles.

Steve U. gets a no-prize that unfortunately comes with a bunch of shrieking greens attached to it for bringing us news that a Grand Canyon-sized rift has been found beneath the Antarctic ice. Since it's CNN, you probably already heard the "CLIMATE CHANGE OF DOOM!!!" soundtrack start up, but let's just sit and listen anyway. The trumpet part is quite nice.

Newly discovered fossils have revealed that grasslands first appeared in South America, 15 million years before they appeared anywhere else. In other words, about 32 million years ago. Apart from one of the fossils being the oldest chinchilla found to-date, I'm not completely clear what the significance of the find really is. But they're scientists. They do cool stuff. That's good enough for me.

Using special goggles, scientists have discovered that strobe lighting improves memory. So it seems all my goth friends really ARE smarter than I am, and for a reason.

Using polymers and rat cells, scientists have created an artificial jellyfish. The article includes an extra-creepy video. The ultimate goal is to produce artificial muscle tissue to do things like repair hearts. Best quote: "Morphologically, we’ve built a jellyfish. Functionally, we’ve built a jellyfish. Genetically, this thing is a rat."

One of those things I've known for awhile which other, less nerdy, people may not be aware of: "One study suggested that [humanity's ancient] population, worldwide, might have dropped as low as 40 adults. (The world record for fitting people in a phone booth is 25.)" The article includes a quick summary regarding why and how this conclusion was reached. Amazing coincidence, or divine intervention? Hey, the reason why the world's surviving religions have similar cores may be because only seven people originally thought them up.

By carefully examining fossil remains, scientists have been able to draw some interesting conclusions about what sort of activities our cousins the Neandertals engaged in. It turns out, I guess not surprisingly on reflection, their lives were a lot less about exciting big-game hunts and a lot more about boring, repetitive, incessant skin-scraping.

Coming soon to a blind person near you: a laser-powered bionic eye. From the demo film, it doesn't seem to be very sharp and it's in black and white. Still, if it's the choice between a bad old black and white TV and complete darkness, well, that's an easy one for me.

A find inside an old castle wall is up-ending conventional wisdom about women's underwear in the Middle Ages. Textiles are the most fragile of all human artifacts, so the survival is remarkable. But, really, this is the first evidence of women's underwear from this period EVAR? I'm thinking maybe that has more to do with monks being the "persons of record" of the era than with anything regularly worn by, well, regular people.

But Alex Wellerstein, an historian of science at the American Institute of Physics, has shared a unigue video of a blast during America's testing of nukes in the Yucca Mountain area of Nevada during the 1950s.

The historian was sent the video below from a Russian colleague, and has now shared it on his blog.

Check out the article and video footage!.

Those propeller-heads at DARPA are at it again, this time demonstrating how fire can be put out with sound. It seems it doesn't even have to be a particularly loud sound, either. Ha! My music isn't too loud, I'm putting out a fire with it!

A rock excavated some three years ago has been discovered to contain one of the most complete hominid fossils found to-date. It's thought this example of Australopithecus sediba, itself a species only discovered in 2008, may contain parts of a hominid not previously preserved in any other known fossils.

Scientists at MIT have developed a new TV technology that promises 3D without the glasses. The tech seems to be related to what drives a Nintendo 3DS... instead of altering the image, multiple images are created and interleaved on three stacked screens. Exactly how this will prevent the TV from being three times as expensive as a "normal" one isn't clear, at least from the article.

The worst-kept secret in physics has now been brought into the light. It's so early I haven't found any mainstream sources that are discussing the implications of finding the particle at around 125 GeV, but there will eventually be many. It should allow the elimination of any number of proposed models of particle interaction, as well as to confirm others. The ultimate result will probably be new technologies and inventions that'll do any number of magical things.

A new fossil discovery is forcing scientists to re-examine the evolution of feathers in dinosaurs. Previously, all feathered dinosaurs were from a specific family. Sciurumimus albersdoerferi (really? Really?), however, is a member of a completely different dinosaur family, and pretty far up the ancestry chain of that family to boot. In other words, feathers may have been far more ubiquitous than anyone had considered before.

A pair of skeletons recovered from a cave in Spain have yielded the oldest intact DNA samples yet collected from a human body. Surprisingly, the evidence indicates these individuals were more closely related to Northern European populations, and not local Iberian ones.

Scientists have found even more evidence that dinosaurs were warm blooded. I thought this particular bit of science had been settled long ago. I guess I underestimated the ability of academics to grind against each other arguing for decades over the smallest of disagreements. Beats having to work for a living.

Scientists have discovered that a newly-found human ancestor ate a unique diet. It appears that Australopithecus sediba, which lived about two million years ago, fed on tree bark, and seems to be the only hominid yet found to do so. Remarkably, actual bark was found in between the fossilized teeth of some specimens.

Scientists examining a meteorite that fell to Earth more than forty years ago have announced the discovery of several new minerals contained therein. It's thought the compounds will provide important insights into the conditions of the early solar system.

By cleverly leveraging info from elephant seals, scientists have discovered the Antarctic ice shelves aren't melting at all. It would seem that, until now, the computer models being used to "prove" they were had never actually been tested with real-world observations. Which we all know is completely OK since the science has been settled. Yes, that's exactly what it sounds like when the other side coughs up the ball. Again.

Scientists have announced the discovery of a unique ancient burial. Fifth century AD would put it right in the heart of Britain's Dark Ages, as Rome's influence collapsed and barbarian hordes started pushing down roots. Apparently a burial of this sort is unique to all of Europe.

And today's theory of what Stonehenge actually means IS... [spins wheel]... a hippie commune. Good as any other, I guess. However, the article (and, presumably, the book it's based on) does supply a nice catch-up summary of the latest findings on the site, which are quite numerous and interesting. They seem to have been pretty busy over there recently.

Scientists have discovered plants get a surprising amount of nutrients from deadly fungi in and around their roots. No, you're not going to drop dead in the garden tomorrow morning. But the insects you're fighting just might. Good, bad, the fungi's the one with the gun.

A new genetic study has provided hard evidence that the Queen of Sheba was real. I only knew her as a name, even the biblical legends were beyond me. The study also revealed interesting information about our very ancient past as well.

Archeologists have found evidence of dairy farmers in Africa 7000 years ago. Analysis of pottery sherds revealed evidence of dairy fats, indicating the Saharan Africans were processing the milk into a form that would make it more digestible to their (presumably) lactose intolerant systems.

Making the rounds: sometimes even physicists can act like kids the night before Christmas. Filling in the last of the blank spaces in the Standard Model will be every bit as revolutionary as it's being made out to be. Knowing exactly what the Higgs boson looks and acts like will eliminate a huge swath of theories while confirming others, and may even allow the development of things like antigravity plates. Floating skateboards, FTW!

Scientists have announced the discovery of the first-known fossils which capture vertebrates in the act of reproduction. The hapless victims were a kind of ancient turtle, with the working theory that some extraordinary event got a whole bunch of them at once. Well, if you gotta go, that would seem to be one of the better ways.

Swill down a yoghurt-style drink which interacts with the food in your stomach and your excrement turns a variety of hues depending on how sick you are.

The scientists have so far only suggested it could detect the progress of e.coli - but they hope one day it could diagnose far more conditions.

Crazy thing is, she would make me do it and we would do manicures and pedicures at the same time.

Scientists have announced the discovery of the oldest definitively dated rock art in Australia. Unusually for this sort of art, the work found in the Northern Territory rock shelter, known as Nawarla Gabarnmang, was made with charcoal, which allowed it to be accurately dated. While not as old as the ~40,000 year old art found in Spain, at 28,000 years the site is still on the far side of ancient.

Scientists have discovered that a certain type of carnivorous plant is able to catapult bugs into its gullet. A leaf covering the "pitcher" in a pitcher plant has a special coating on its underside. If a bug crawls on the underside of the leaf, that special coating ensures it can barely grip the surface. A water drop, a breeze, basically anything that causes the leaf to shake plops the hapless insect into the plant's waiting maw. Ain't nature grand?

New tests have revealed cave paintings found in Spain are the oldest known in the world. At 40,000 years, the oldest is right on the cusp of when modern humans were settling in Europe. This, of course, caused at least one of the scientists to imply neandertals were responsible. Since we've never found any other neandertal art anywhere and this IS still a time period modern humans could've done it, I'm thinking that is unlikely.

Scientists have announced the discovery of a rare, intact skeleton of a soldier killed during the Battle of Waterloo. The location of the individual and the artifacts found with him strongly indicate this is a British soldier, probably killed by the musket ball found in his chest cavity. It's hoped those artifacts will help identify him, allowing him to be buried in something other than an unmarked grave.

So, the next big thing, or another green boondoggle? Scientists have lofty ambitions for a new form of building material, laminated timber. If it makes buildings easier/cheaper/safer, heck I'm all for it. Costs a premium? Well, it's your money, your house. Enjoy!

How sensitive can the Large Hadron Collider actually be? Sensitive enough that an object 235,000 miles away can cause the data to go jiggery. It's also thrown off by a TGV that runs nearby, and a host of other very minor effects. Ultimately, when you're using a machine that has gauges that *start* with nine zeros after the decimal, it don't take much.

Coming to a desktop near you: compact x-ray lasers. We'll just have to take them at their word that it's useful, since the article doesn't mention any explicit applications. But it's an x-ray laser, man, it can sit there and just be awesome.

In other news, vampire bones are being dug up in Bulgaria. Well, ok, not actual vampires, but apparently whoever did the burying was wanting to make sure no funny business with fangs was going to happen. Apparently it's so common in that region that the scientists aren't sure what all the fuss is about.

Yeah, yeah, we know. Physically, humans are pretty awful predators. We've got tiny teeth, no claws, poor smell and vision. But it turns out we are the absolute kings and queens of long distance running. Hey, we grew up on one of the greatest lawns on the planet. Being able to run something to death was probably a pretty damned useful thing to have back then.

Scientists have found important new evidence in the quest to understand the evolution of apes. In spite of what the article implies, "out of Asia" for apes has been bandied about for at least thirty years or so, when I was an undergrad in anthropology. Back then, the problem was trying to figure out if all these ape fossils were in Asia because that's where apes evolved, or if it was because that's one of the very few places where sediments of the right date are accessible. This find definitely seems to point to the former conclusion.

Grateful that the biggest bugs you have to face in your daily life are nothing like the monsters that flitted around millions of years ago? Thank birds. Swoozie still doesn't get to screech any time she feels like it. She'd be a very noisy, very naughty bird otherwise.

I don't know why, because the summary certainly sounds dry as dust, but this story about pelting mosquitoes with raindrops was just fascinating to me. Maybe it's just that growing up in SE Arkansas makes me almost professionally interested in things which can send those buzzy little bastards to an early grave. Unfortunately it turns out that drops of water, of any sort, won't do it.

Just in time to re-stoke 2012 doomsday hysteria: last month's solar flare caused a mysterious neutron "pulse" that shouldn't have happened at all. It's, naturally, not at all clear why it happened, or even how it happened. A press release in the never-ending quest for grant money, or yet another harbinger of DOOOOOOM? You decide.

Once you get past the author's purple prose of an introduction, it seems scientists have figured out some pretty cool stuff about the Earth's core. Includes the standard scientific plea, "Oh, the things we could learn, if only we had unlimited resources." Yeah, ain't that the troof?

Scientists have announced the discovery that it was the gradual migration of monsoon rains which allowed, and then devastated, an ancient Indian civilization. The Harappan civilization was, at its height, larger than Egypt and Mesopotamia combined. It had its own system of writing, big cities, and a distinctive culture which endured for some sixteen centuries only to almost literally dry up and blow away with the winds.

A new study suggests that, not only does "gaydar" exist, it's actually very efficient. I guess mine isn't particularly good because I don't really care all that much about it.

Israeli archeologists have announced the discovery of rare ancient jewelry from the Biblical period. The pieces were found in a clay jar buried more than three thousand years ago near the ancient city of Megiddo, and are said to represent "the most valuable [items] ever found from [that] period."

Scientists have discovered a new sensory organ in whales. Found on a sub-group of baleen whales called rorquals, the grapefruit-sized mass is thought to help the whale decide if it's worth taking a big gulp of water to grab some food. When you're moving a body that big around in an apparently complex motion, I guess it's a good idea to make sure there's something to swallow.

By using an array of new techniques, scientists have determined that cuttlefish ink hasn't changed much, if at all, since at least the Jurassic. While in and of itself the find is interesting but not particularly ground-shaking, the techniques could open up a whole new field as they provide the tools to study soft tissue in fossils.

Scientists have announced the discovery of a turtle the size of a small car that ate alligators for lunch. Our own, comparatively tiny, tortoise Om pretty much defines "bloody-mindedness." When something is in her way, she pushes at it until it moves OUT of her way or she gets moved by it. I can only imagine the implications of that in something as big as a car.

A group of mathematicians has announced the discovery that large subway networks gradually converge on a common design, no matter where they're located. The design features distinct topological features which suggest underlining universal principles are at work. No, I don't exactly know what it means either. Maybe God really does ride the subway sometimes.

Scientists have announced the discovery of the world's oldest rock art and, you guessed it, it's a cooter. Or pac-man. You pick. On reflection, though, I'm vaguely surprised our erstwhile caveman didn't immortalize his own junk in stone. That tends to be what gets put up on the bathroom walls, even in Pompeii.

Using a new surgical technique doctors have allowed a previously paralyzed man to regain the use of his fingers. The injury the 71 year-old sustained crushed his C7 vertebra, at the base of the neck. He had arm function but only got the ability to use his fingers back when doctors almost literally rewired his nerves.

Using technology originally developed for solar cells, scientists are creating eye implants which could enable blind people to see. They're still most definitely in the "do-gross-things-to-rats" proof of concept stages, but the technology does seem to be promising. It'll probably disappoint cyber-punk fans, but apparently the idea is to make them as invisible as possible.

A project to recreate a bronze-age boat has had a set-back. Sinking will tend to do that.

A lump of the black substance, which can be broken with a hammer, was put into a glass funnel - and the waiting began. A decade after the late Professor Thomas Parnell, formerly from Cambridge University, began the process, the first of eight drops fell.

The viscous liquid continued its incredibly slow, but inexorable, journey downwards, and in 1947 the second drop fell.

The next drops occurred in 1954, 1962, 1970, 1979, 1988 and lastly in 2000 when the webcam that was trained on the experiment broke at the crucial stage.

Read then entire*YAWN* here.

A stone-throwing chimp in a Swedish zoo has started getting sneaky. The Little Rock Zoo has, or at least had, a chimp who'd fling whatever he could grab at the zoo staff, but leave everyone else alone. Well, everyone else who didn't wear a khaki shirt that made them look like zoo staff. Fortunately their arms and hands aren't strung for accurate throwing. But it did make for a fun bit of dodging!

Archeologists have announced the discovery of the earliest-known evidence of a Biblical cult. Shrines discovered in the ruins of Khirbet Qeiyafa, a fortified city destroyed some three thousand years ago, seem to provide clear evidence of a distinct sort of religion being practiced in the region around the time of King David.

A new look at the iconic Taung Child fossil has caused one scientist to link unfused infant skulls with bipedalism. I think. The article throws a lot of quotes about increasing brain size around, but not about bipedalism. That unfused skulls are part of what makes it possible for a bipedal ape to have children with brains all out of proportion to their bodies was known and accepted when I was an undergrad in the late 80s, so (at least from what the article presents) I'm not completely sure what's new here.

Scientists using a new computer model have put forward a new theory on when and where the horse was first domesticated. It's not exactly a stunning find, but it definitely seems to answer nagging questions about previous theories.

A new genetic study seems to indicate human intelligence is primarily the result of two distinct genetic copy errors. The timing of the errors seems to coincide with the emergence of Homo (shaddup, you) as a genus. The results will, presumably, be contentious and generate who knows how many slow-motion flamewars in the scientific journals. Still, it's interesting to know that the less than two percent of us that's not chimpanzee may be mostly encompassed in exactly two places on our genome.

Scientists have announced the discovery of a new technique which could increase the density and lifetime of sold-state computer storage. I think. Reading the article makes me think of a really advanced, presumably very small, record player. "Pressure using tools" definitely sounds like moving parts to me, at any rate.

Using a very old, patched map researchers have found new clues that may lead to the discovery of what really happened to the first English colony in the new world. Under one of the patches, never seen before, seems to be an indication that the settlers may have made a fort west of the original location of the colony. The land indicated is privately owned and may be partially covered by a golf course, so excavations won't be happening any time soon.

So, is there really some scientific way of reliably predicting who will end up dating a specific person, or who has more power in a given relationship? It would seem there is.

Shades of the D&D Monster manual: scientists have announced the discovery of giant blood-sucking fleas! Well, hey, at least now we know your garden variety dinosaur probably itched as much as that stray dog that wanders the neighborhood. That said, it's not like dinosaurs are built to scratch. I wonder how they pulled it off?

Looks like scientists are getting closer to tapping that vast lake sealed off for who knows how long under the ice of the antarctic. Drilling through two miles of ice in three days' time seems pretty darned fast to me. Didn't it take them months the last time? At any rate, I, for one, will welcome the mysterious icy overlords they will presumably unleash.

Scientists have announced the discovery of yet another form of carbon. Called "Silicene," this new two-dimensional form may have the conductive properties of graphene but with the added bonus of compatibility with existing semiconductor technologies. They think. So far it seems they've only proved the stuff exists.

Anthropologists studying a primitive tribe in New Guinea have discovered a mathematical construct thought of as basic and innate, isn't. They also discovered a different way of expressing the concepts of past, present, and future. Me, I've seen what New Guinea looks like in movies. The place is an absolute staple of cultural anthropology studies. It was one of the reasons I realized I had no desire to become a cultural anthropologist.

IBM has announced a lightweight battery with an energy density approaching that of gasoline. This "air breathing battery" uses atmospheric oxygen and new lithium composites to create a reversible reaction that produces electricity. They're going on and on about green cars, but that's not really important. The really important question is, "what will the implications be for radio controlled helicopters when the batteries shrink to 1/10th their current size? Priorities, people. Priorities!

Japanese scientists have discovered a computer could be built using crabs. Yes, crabs. No, not THOSE crabs, the kind you turn into crab cakes. Although I bet this kind would itch, too.

Kevin T gets a no-prize that can walk two ways at once for bringing us the latest development in quantum computers. I can remember, back in the 80s, when people knew these sorts of effects existed but didn't know how to use them to transmit information. Last I heard, if anyone actually gets this stuff working the performance leap would represent a "significant discontinuity" in computer performance. Which, translated into regular-speak, means they can definitely be turned up to 11.

Scientists seem to have figured out what's causing the worrying epidemic of "colony collapse" in honeybees. The culprit seems to be high fructose corn syrup, a common sort of bee food, made from crops treated with a specific sort of pesticide. This would seem to indicate a pretty straightforward fix.

Scientists have developed a flashlight-like device that uses plasma to quickly sterilize surfaces, including skin. Fortunately the plasma is cool enough not to damage skin. The device is powered by a 12 volt battery (must be custom, because it's too small for a car battery) and it's claimed it will cost less than $100 once in production. Better still, while plasma has been known to be an effective anti-bacterial, nobody's completely sure why.

Kevin T. gets a no-prize that's been teaching kids what cross-dressing means since 1940 for bringing us news of the discovery of one massive damned rabbit. Huge, and weird looking ta boot. It's thought this may be the first known example of "Foster's rule," which describes why large animals get small and big animals get large when they're trapped on an Island.

Scientists are trying to figure out why squirrels avoid rattle snakes by shaking their tail. I, for one, welcome our robotic nut-eating overlords.

Scientists have discovered the first wooly mammoth carcass with obvious signs of those meddling kids. The carcass is so well preserved the tissue is still pink in some places, and the "strawberry-blonde" coat is still largely intact. Discovery Channel is funding the research, so we'll be looking forward to a show next year!

Scientists have found evidence that "beer goggles" are real, and affect women's judgement more than men's. The standard line of thinking is that ancient humans invented intoxicants as an escape. With this evidence, I'm thinking it was probably more of a mating strategy.

A new research study has found that a massive explosion in the UK may have been made much worse by trees. Note to self: make sure the rocket fuel refinery is surrounded by pine trees. Even better, just tell the tree huggers to get a job and chop the damned things down. With video!

Scientists have discovered strong evidence that our ancestors were using fire some 300,000 years earlier than previously thought. The new evidence, found inside a cave in South Africa, pushes that time back to a million years ago, long before modern humans had evolved.

It seems Lucy's kind wasn't the only sort of hominid wandering around in Africa 3.5 million years ago. True, a fragmentary foot fossil isn't all that much to go on, but it can be enough to tell if they're looking at a different species. Considering we have quite a few A. afarensis fossils and (presumably) just this one of a different type, it may have been quite rare indeed.

Scientists have announced promising research on a "one ring to rule them all" anti-cancer drug. I've seen a lot of promising mouse cancer cures not pan out into human cancer cures. Here's to hoping this one manages to make it through human trials.

An archeological dig has revealed what could be one of the earliest examples of Christianity taking over from paganism. The grave is pagan, the cross definitely is not, and the sixteen year old girl found in Cambridge may provide important and rare clues as to what life was like in the depths of the dark ages.

A wind farm developer has funded a new scan of ancient Scottish tombs. And when I say "ancient," I'm not talking "gee-wasn't-Bobby-Bruce-cool" old, I'm talking five hundred years before the pyramids old. Around the same time that Stonehenge was getting set up, if I'm getting the timing correct. The article doesn't make it clear if this was out of the goodness of the business's heart, or part of a requirement to enable an expansion.

Beware! Beware, I tell you! Beware the snails of war! I was wondering when the dawn of cybernetics was actually going to break. Not wondering any more.

A new custom software application is allowing archeologists to use satellite imagery to survey massive areas for signs of ancient human habitation. It's really quite surprising how much can be seen from space, and how little of it has been explored. Unfortunately the most promising sites seem to all be in Syria, which as we all know is not the most welcoming of places to do science at the moment. It's hoped that the improving situation in Iraq will allow further testing of this technology in that region.

Using what I presume to be the world's smallest MRI machine scientists have figured out which part of a Japanese honey bee's brain is used to cook predatory wasps to death. Yep, when a certain sort of wasp invades a hive of this sort of bee, they form a "bee ball" around it, cooking it until it keels over. This is the only sort of honeybee that's known to do this, so naturally they're going to be killing a whole bunch of wasps trying to figure out what makes it tick. I hate wasps, so I'm OK with this!

A new study of marine sediments is revealing a surprising model for the atmosphere of the early Earth. Exactly how a planet much larger and closer to the Sun than a moon of Saturn can still end up with an atmosphere very similar to said moon's is, of course, a mystery. Ain't science grand?

Giant and colossal squid have long been famous for their gigantic eyes. Now scientists have figured out why they got so big. Structures evolve for a reason. Just because naked apes with delusions of grandeur can't figure those reasons out doesn't mean they don't exist. This, more than anything else, is why I know "social justice" is a pile o' steamin' crap.

By using a combination of advanced imaging and computer models, scientists have discovered the world's sharpest teeth. The choppers possessed by Conodonts, eel-like proto-vertebrates which lived 500 million years ago, had tips 2 microns across and despite their small size had biting power to rival much larger modern creatures. They also chewed left-to-right. Nature's weird.

A new archeological exhibit in Manhattan is giving people a fresh look at ancient, enigmatic nomads from the steppes of Asia. Teeny-tiny men riding teeny-tiny horses, very fast. Bonus: the burial mounds are called "kurgans," and no I don't think that's a co-eenky-dink.

Leave it to the Aussies to think this up: a bodysuit for race horses is turning heads down under. It looks kinda goofy to me, but if it helps prevent injuries I'm all for it. Brave are the people who convince the horse to put it on, I'd wager.

The propeller heads at DARPA are at it again, this time fielding a new combat laser system. This time the spec includes the magic words "solid state." All previous super-high-power systems were not only gigantic contraptions, they used heavy, expensive, caustic, and poisonous chemicals to turn the light on. Going solid state makes it smaller, cheaper, and more reliable. No word if it'll be quick/powerful enough to knock down mortars. That'd be a nice get.

By using advanced medical imaging technology scientists have finally figured out how a mysterious stranger died. Not a big deal, right? Well, turns out this particular stranger died not quite two thousand years ago and his body got tossed into a bog in Britain. Or Britannia, as it was known back then. Romans, gotta love 'em.

Using a new technique with an electron microscope, scientists have determined the extinct dinosaur Microraptor probably had black, iridescent feathers. It also had long, ornamental tail feathers which may have impaired flight. It's thought the strange four-winged dinosaur may have developed these features more for display than for function.

Scientists are expecting a revolution in microscopy with the development of a technique which completely does away with lenses. No more stains, no more special mounts, with a resolution limited only by the wavelength of energy used to create the image. It's a good thing!

While a weird atmospheric inversion may have made the iceberg Titanic hit invisible, it seems the moon is the reason it was there at all. The finding would seem to vindicate Captain Smith, changing him from a reckless speed freak to a seasoned captain who was faced with a completely unexpected situation. Not that it much matters at this distance.

It turns out being "ginger" has its advantages. Watching a friend's very red-headed boy bounce impressively off the walls and floor as he grows up makes me think they're onto something there.

New scientific research is suggesting a mirage may have been responsible for Titanic striking that iceberg. This "superior mirage" may also have prevented the nearby Californian from correctly identifying the stricken liner and coming to her rescue.

It seems our close cousins have an affection for porn as well: Bonobo females will "advertise" their homosexual encounters, especially when they're with higher-status females, or the high status males are around. You can take the ape out of the jungle...

A fortunate need for maintenance on a dam is allowing scientists a new look at "the oldest fossil forest". The 384 million year-old field of stumps is located a few hours' drive from my in-laws house on (what I think is) the other side of the Catskills range. New discoveries are already helping scientists re-think how the rise of forests altered the planet's ecology.

Using a re-engineered protein found in the infamous "flesh eating bacteria," scientists have created a new "ultimate" super glue. Reading the article, it sounds more like "super-velcro" to me, since the substance only sticks to itself. Anything making it less likely for me to glue my own fingers together is fine by me.

Scientists have announced the discovery of a distinctly "upsized" bug. The giant Mesozoic flea was ten times bigger than its modern descendants, probably because it had to chew on dinosaurs to survive. On the upside, it didn't have the legs a modern flea has, so it'd have to crawl on you instead of jump on you. Sleep well tonight!

Scientists have finished scanning the DNA of Oetzi, the 5000 year old "ice man," and have discovered a number of unexpected things.

Scientists have reconstructed a previously undescribed species of giant penguin. Working from fossils collected in the 1970s, the "giant" lived around 25 million years ago and probably stood a little more than four feet tall, which is still more than a foot taller than the modern emperor penguin. Its build was quite different than existing species, and its hoped the fossil will provide insight into the evolution of that family of birds.

New evidence regarding the extinction of Neandertals is coming to light. DNA analysis seems to indicate that the species suffered a significant reduction in population thousands of years before modern humans encountered them. Now that I think about it, I seem to recall reading that there's evidence for a similar sort of population "crunch" in our own genes. It'd be interesting to see how, or even if, they're related.

Scientists have measured the fastest winds in the universe. Not surprisingly, they're generated by a black hole. However, they're a lot faster than theories were predicting, so now they need to muck around with their theories again. Well, hey, it does give them something to do, ya know?

Well, what else would you call miniaturized mechanical dinosaurs? I've always known that 3D printing technologies would lead to loads of awesome. Ooo... I bet they'll be radio controlled, too. How long until we have dino fights?

Scientists have discovered an ancient rain forest entombed for three hundred million years by a gigantic volcano eruption. Now located in Mongolia, the find is so well preserved it's hoped to provide insight not only in what life forms were around at the time, but also what the climate may have been like as Pangea started to form.

Russian scientists have used long-buried seeds to regenerate an ancient plant. The small flowering plant Sylene stenophylla grew from seeds planted by a squirrel about 30,000 years ago. It's hoped this technique can be used to re-create other forms of life from frozen remains preserved in the Siberian tundra.

A team of Dutch scientists have announced the intention to create the first lab-grown hamburger by the end of the year. No, they haven't built a big pen in their lab, they'll be using stem cells and (presumably) petri dishes. Me, I have a bit of an "ick" factor to overcome, but on the other side I've never been particularly happy with the way the existing meat industry works. If scientists come up with the same stuff without killing anything, I'd probably at least give it a try.

The article's pretty heavy-handed on the apocalyptic Green message, so it's got that going for it, too.

Administrators of the Large Hadron Collider are set to increase the power of the device to improve the chances of finding the Higgs Boson, crazy guys babbling about Kit-Kats, and invoke the 2012 apocalypse. Well, one of those three, anyway. Definitely the first one. I think. Mmm... Kit-kats...

Scientists have discovered that, with a little nano-help, butterfly wings make for excellent temperature sensors. It seems that the structures which make some butterfly wings iridescent are incredibly sensitive to heat, and coating them with carbon nanotubes makes them even more sensitive. It's thought a device based on the discovery could measure changes a small as .018 degrees.

Using weights and pyramid-shaped objects, scientists have discovered top-heavy objects are actually the most stable configuration in a hover. This counter-intuitive result seems to help explain why insects are built the way they are, and may point the way toward more efficient vehicle designs.

Engineers building a new road in France have discovered the bodies of 21 German infantrymen, buried alive 94 years ago. The WWI soldiers were victims of a tunnel collapse triggered by a massive shell which exploded over them in 1918. Strangely, the names of all the victims are known, but it's uncertain if any relatives remain to claim them. I'm disappointed the Mail chose not to run pictures of the remains themselves. Skeletons are interesting!

It looks like the Zebra got its stripes to stop horse flies from biting. Horse flies and black flies were a bane of everyone's existence during summer breaks at the pool when I was a kid. If we'd know stripes would've helped, there would've been a whole lot of zebra-fied kids swimming around. Those would be some interesting tan lines, I tell ya!

Scientists have released the first-ever highly detailed genetic map of an extinct hominid. According to the article, they have sequenced every position of the genome at very high resolution. It's hoped that other scientists can use the data to learn much more about this distant cousin, as well as ourselves.

Using a new computer model a group of geologists is reporting one day the Earth will end up with a single giant continent. Again. This time, according to them anyway, it'll form over the Arctic Ocean as North and South America combine and meet up with Asia, Africa, and all those other continents I can't remember. You know, like Manhattan. That sort of thing. No word on just when it'll happen. I blame Dick Cheney.

A more detailed look at the results from November's LHC experiments has raised hopes that the Higgs boson has finally been discovered. Or not. It seems that a 99.996% likelihood gosh darn it just isn't good enough, since that's not hugely different from something to do with a coin toss. Includes uber-nerdy joke that went right past me.

Scientists are claiming to have made a breakthrough in the manufacture of solar cells using otherwise worthless organic material. While still nowhere near the ballpark of generating useful energy, the new process is far less expensive, raising hopes that many more researchers will be able to examine, and hopefully improve, the technique.

After a puzzling silence lasting more than a week, Russian scientists have announced they have successfully reached a deeply buried Antarctic lake. Lake Vostok is thought to have not been exposed to the outside world for millions of years, and may end up being a testbed for a wide variety of space probe technology, as well as providing a unique environment to observe and experiment on.

A series of rigorous, double-blind tests seem to be proving humans can indeed predict the future. All that quantum business makes me think, "it could happen." However, other scientists have repeated at least one experiment and not repeated the result, so maybe it's a bug in the software?

Scientists have for the first time used 3D printing technologies to create an entire lower jaw. The custom-designed replacement was created with titanium, and took hours to make instead of days.

By examining rock crystals on the Greek island of Santorini, scientists think they may be able to predict when a "supervolcano" will erupt years in advance. It seems the rising magma does so much more quickly than previously thought, creating visible, measurable changes which can be detected with modern instruments. Having a year to get out of a volcano's way sounds pretty handy to me.

Inspired by a sea food dinner, scientists have developed a crab-like micro-robot to treat stomach cancers. The device is mounted on the end of an endoscope and uses pincers to grasp and remove the tumor, then cauterize the wound, all in a fraction of the time a more conventional surgery would take.

A UC Berkeley team has successfully managed to decode the thought of words into the words themselves. While understandably crude and invasive now, the research would seem to point the way toward therapies and devices to allow people "locked in" by injury or illness to communicate. And, you know, probably enable that whole freaky "Scanners" thing.

As they say, "faster, please:" Scientists have figured out how to convert skin cells directly into the precursors of nerve cells. The technique avoids the problematic use of stem cells, which have a tendency to cause cancer when used to create other forms of cells. It's hoped the research will lead to mass-produced tissues from the patient's own body, opening up a new world of therapeutic treatment.

More then forty years after being predicted, scientists have successfully managed to make the first "atomic x-ray laser." Exactly what that really means is a bit unclear to me, but it sounds impressive as hell. Apparently the device will be used in atom-scale experiments.

Using a different class of "metamaterial" (whatever the hell that is), scientists have developed a cloak that can conceal a 3D object in free space. Of course, they're only cloaking against long-wavelength radiation like microwaves, and will probably only be able to cloak really small things against visible light, but dude. Cloaking technology!

A new study on an ancient feather has revealed at least some of Archaeopteryx's feathers were black. Like, you know, a crow. I wonder if they squawked as loud as the dinosaurs that live in our house do?

The discovery of a fossilized dog skull is forcing scientists to reexamine when, where, and how man's best friend was domesticated. The new evidence not only punctures the "single common ancestor" theory, it also pushes the date back several thousand years and scatters the event all over Eurasia.

Scientists have worked out how to use lasers to cool semiconductors. It does this, somehow, by leveraging quantum effects and heat. The technique could help push along attempts at quantum computers, as well as create new cooling technologies for existing circuits.

By combining simple iron filings with a combination of other harmless chemicals, scientists have created magnetic soap. The substance should make it much easier to safely clean up things like oil spills, and to purify water.

New technology is allowing detailed archeological surveys of Nazi concentration camps. More traditional methods that involve digging are forbidden due to the sensitive nature of the sites, so it's only recently that such surveys have even been possible.

Scientists have found that, as with nearly everything else in nature, anglerfish have those wicked-looking teeth for a reason. I'm just happy these fish are all (as I understand it anyway) no bigger than a large goldfish, and live miles underwater. I definitely would never want to see a big one anywhere near the surface!

So, did Neandertals tell jokes? Did they laugh? Cry? While we may never know with absolute certainty, there's enough evidence to allow some fascinating educated guesses. Of course, since they are just that, they'll provoke endless disagreements about each and every point, vehement to the point of bedrock certainty that one or the other is flat wrong. And that's what makes us human.

A pair of scientists decided to see if they could cause multicellular life to evolve in a lab setting. Not only did they manage to succeed, it happened a lot faster than anyone expected. Me, I want to know how it's been figured out that multicellular life evolved independently "at least 25 times." Some sort of molecular evidence?

Scientists have discovered the tomb of an ancient Egyptian temple singer. It seems she was interred in a much older tomb, who's original occupant is unknown. It represents the first non-royal tomb ever found in the Valley of the Kings.

Graphene, a new form of carbon discovered in 2004, seems to be taking the physics world by storm. I would take a bit of issue over the author's assertion that bucky balls and nanotubes have been non-starters. I read about various interesting practical applications involving them at least a few times a month. Still, this new stuff has pretty obvious implications in circuitry design, and that nearly always turns out well. Coming to a flat screen near you!

Scientists have discovered a new kind of carnivorous plant which uses its leaves to eat worms. Found on the tropical savannas of Brazil, Philcoxia minensis and its relatives actually buries its leaves into the soil in order to collect nematodes and other microscopic critters.

Scientists have discovered that RNA may not have been the primary molecule which formed in the earliest "soup of life" on Earth. It is, per usual, too early in the game to make even a preliminary call, but it does set up some tantalizing question. I just wish they'd come up with a better, less Beavis-and-Butthead-worthy name.

A new exhibit in Germany contains reconstructed faces of 27 different human ancestors. Dang, our grampas were some homely folk, weren't they? Hopefully it'll go on the road and head out here, because that's an expensive commute for us.

By constructing an elaborate double-blind study, scientists have found evidence that new violins don't seem to sound better than really old ones. It seemed a lot less trivial while I was reading the article. At any rate, even the scientists are not claiming a definitive result. With something so subjective as what a human musician prefers when creating music, I'm not sure a definitive result is even possible.

Scientists have announced the first successful creation of "Chimera monkeys". These are created by combining material from several embryos to create a single creature. Mice with a similar creation scheme are used in medical research because the technique allows researchers to "knock out" certain genes from an individual, so, while the article doesn't explicitly mention it, I think that's what these monkeys will be used for as well.

By using a specific hormone at a specific time, scientists are able to create "super soldier" ants in species which do not otherwise have them. The idea, apparently, is to provide insights into various aspects of evolution. I, for one, will welcome our new ant overlords.

A new underwater film has captured a fish mimicking an octopus that mimics a different fish. Emergent complexity is a wonderful thing! It's still not clear if the octopus ever even notices his shadow companion.

And for the very weirdest physics news of 2011, we have the development of a cloak that works with time instead of light. It's such a weird finding even the scientists who cooked it up aren't completely sure what, if anything, it'll be good for. Another grant at the very least, I'd wager.

Another day, another antarctic ecosystem. I've always found it strange that, on land, the tropics are where all the biodiversity is, but at sea it's always some of the darkest, coldest places that have all the crazy critters. If the Burgess Shale and other similar formations are any indication, it's been like this a helluva long time. I'm sure there's a reason for it, I just can't ever recall one.

A form of crystal once thought to be flat-out impossible, and then thought only to be produced artificially, has now been found in nature. Science will always provide the right answer, until it is provided with new data. Then it will provide a different right answer. This is why science is great foundation for technology, but lousy one for morality.

Scientists have reported the discovery of hybrid sharks found in the wild. The specimens are a hybrid of two closely-related species, the common and Australian black-tipped shark. It's believed this is a sign that the animals are adapting to warming ocean temperatures, and could herald the arrival of a stronger shark species.

Scientists have confirmed fishermen's reports: there are new islands in the Red Sea. It's not clear if it'll last, and what with all the rocks being spat out at speed, it's not like you'll be visiting it any time soon. Volcanic activity seems to be on the rise in the region, so at least we all have something new to blame on Bush, donchaknow?

It looks like our tortoise Om may be a lot smarter than we give her credit for. She definitely seems to navigate the maze of our living room floor with relative ease. When, you know, she's not just sitting there, staring at the world.

Fossils which were once thought to show Cambrian-era life existing in the older, more mysterious Ediacaran period has, naturally, been challenged, and then challenged again. The current thinking is still just about as weird. Life that ancient is fascinating to me, because it's so incredibly different than what's around today, yet we are quite clearly related to it. Most of the time, anyway.

Told ya: the data resulting from the search for the Higgs boson has already proved a few alternatives to the Standard Model wrong. Personally I'd be happy if the whole dark matter/dark energy thing went away completely, but I've read enough about them both to know that, if that were to happen, they'd have to be replaced with something. Because this is physics we're talking about, it'd likely be something even weirder.

Scientists have discovered that, when under intense pressure and extremely high temperature, iron will change its electrical properties without changing its structure. This esoteric-sounding discovery has profound implications for what makes the Earth's core tick, and may reveal a new, previously undiscovered, type of metallisation. Yes, metallisation. That's how they spelled it!

A new examination of just how the African lungfish gets around may force scientists to re-write the evolution of land animals. The weird trackways which are a hallmark of vertebrates hauling themselves out of the muck my have in fact been made by fish, not their tetrapod descendants.

Turns out physicists aren't all that much different after all. Witness the sewing-circle excitement over what is presumed to be an announcement of the discovery of the Higgs boson. In fact it is a big deal, since right now there are a range of theories vying to replace or supplement the current Standard Model of physics, and just where the Higgs is and what it really looks like will likely cull many members of that herd. Oh, it won't make any sense to the likes of us, but it'll still be cool!

Scientists have discovered that, far from being the beastly creatures of nightmare, rats appear to have empathy, and co-operate with each other. Females seem to be more likely to do so than males, who occasionally "take a day off." Sounds about right. No, Ellen, you can't have one.

Apparently sick of being beaten like an NFC East team, North American paleontologists have taken the title of "largest dinosaur" away from their South American counterparts. More than just bragging rights are in play, as the new description could change the way we think about how these giant sauropods were related to each other.

Scientists have finally confirmed the very first apex predator had excellent vision. In a sea filled with creatures measuring no more than a few inches, the three-foot long Anomalarcus pretty much defined "giant."

Scientists have demonstrated the ability to manifest what Einstein called "spooky action at a distance" by using lasers and diamonds. The current experiment has no commercial application and it's not clear if information can in fact be transmitted using this method. But it is pretty neat, if difficult to understand.

So, you want to model the Earth's core for magnetic experiments? Take 28,000 pounds of sodium and call me in the morning. Liquid sodium, no less. Definitely not something you'd want to have rupture, I'd warrant. And heck, they're not completely sure it'll even work. A scientist's dream grant, that.

Scientists have announced the creation of a new, more durable, vaccine for the Ebola virus. It's still in (what I understand to be) early animal trials, but the results seem promising.

The scientific body responsible for naming elements has made its choice for the two newest discoveries, but if you act now you can suggest better ones. I would suggest "ScottIsAwsomium" and "Johnsonium," but I figure I'd let one of you guys win this one.

A genetic engineering company is on the verge of granting every southerner in the United Sates their most fervent wish: the extinction of all mosquito-kind. This one's not just a lab experiment, it's been tested successfully in the wild. Oh, yes, there's the standard angst about "what can go wrong?" and "what hath we wrought?" but those are the worries of people who don't live with the little bastards. I will be the first to hold a party when the last of those critters hits the dirt.

JERUSALEM (AP) — Newly found coins underneath Jerusalem's Western Wall could change the accepted belief about the construction of one of the world's most sacred sites two millennia ago, Israeli archaeologists said Wednesday.

But archaeologists with the Israel Antiquities Authority now say diggers have found coins underneath the massive foundation stones of the compound's Western Wall that were stamped by a Roman proconsul 20 years after Herod's death. That indicates that Herod did not build the wall — part of which is venerated as Judaism's holiest prayer site — and that construction was not close to being complete when he died.

Read the entire article here.

Scientists have developed a compound which allows 3D printers to create bone scaffolds. The scaffolds are then implanted into an injury to facilitate regrowth and healing, eventually being completely absorbed by the body. It's thought clinical trials on humans are only a few years away.

No, really, that's even what they called it: worms in space. You'd think anything that grew up in British garbage pits would be pretty immune to, well, everything. Except, you know, that whole teeth thing.

A ground penetrating radar survey of Stonehenge has revealed even more undiscovered secrets. The site is enormous and now that archeologists have access to tools which allow relatively quick-and-cheap surveys like this I'd expect more of these kinds of discoveries to follow. The real bonus is it's completely non-invasive, which is a massive improvement over the old "dig a trench and poke around" method practiced back when I was an undergrad.

And in the, "just when you thought science couldn't get any weirder" file, we find news that at one point in the distant past, life on Earth was characterized by a single, planet-spanning life form. It sort of sounds like the contents of an old jelly jar, spread over the whole globe.

Using timelapse cameras, specialists recorded the salt water being excluded from the sea ice and sinking to the sea floor.

The temperature of this sinking brine, which was well below 0C, caused the water to freeze in an icy sheath around it

Where the so-called 'brinicle' met the sea bed a web of ice formed freezing everything it touched, including sea urchins and starfish.

Run starfish! RUN!

By using the Earth's own magnetic field as a clever sort of telescope, scientists seem to have found a confirmation that dark energy exists. I think. Astrophysics is hard! For all I know the paper may actually say chocolate and peanut butter taste good together.

Scientists have created electronic contact lenses. While at the moment they're only meant for rabbits, and can only display a single pixel, the goal is to create high-resolution displays for any manner of uses. I dunno. Sounds pretty expensive to me.

Today leads us to two studies on memory: one which claims walking through doorways makes you forget, and another which claims you can remember things even when you think you can't. I'd talk more about it, but I need to remember where I put my keys last night.

Nestled inside this lightweight piece on bats is the startling assertion at least some of them might have evolved from primates. If the theory were based on genetics I'd be intrigued, but (according to the article) it's based on morphology, which is a lot easier to get wrong. Quick! Someone get that man a gene sequencer!

Scientists have for the first time created a complete biological synapse on a computer chip. The goal is to create neural analogs of whole sections of the human brain for study. It may also allow the construction of replacement sections to treat diseases. Cyber-spares, FTW!

Efforts to develop in-vitro meat for human consumption seem to be proceeding apace. The point that this concept actually isn't as gross as how industrial meat packing works is well taken. Oh, and the "secret funder?" I'd dig around in PETA's closet first to find them.

Two words: cotton transistors. They sound expensive, and not particularly powerful, but having a carpet that can count the number of people standing on it is pretty neat. I'd be much more interested in one that'd zap a cat trying to pee on it, but that's just me.

The smallest arthropod fossil yet found has been successfully imaged by a UK university team. The 50 million-year-old mite, which was found on a fossilised spider, is just 170 millionths of a metre long.

So, how many of these 10 "food myths that just won't die" do you believe in? I'd never even heard of the "pregnant women shouldn't eat sushi" one but it's just as well. I mean, it's not like I'm going to be eating the stuff when I'm pregnant, ya know?

Scientists have for the first time created a simple and effective way for computers to control yeast. Which at first sounds, well, not that big of a deal. According to the article, though, the tech will likely have applications in pharmaceutical production. In other words, cheap drugs.

By using gummy bears and cellphones, scientists are trying to study the massive underwater waves that dominate the lower areas of the planet's oceans. Unfortunately one of the waves crushed the camera which was supposed to be filming the experiments, so they're going to start it all over again. Like it wasn't cool enough to begin with.

Scientists are planning to build a laser so powerful it can tear a hole in the universe. Presumably a very small, very safe hole, right? At any rate, the experiments are meant to prove, or disprove, various cosmological theories which predict exotic particles will appear at the energies the device will generate.

By using new dating techniques, scientists have discovered modern humans may have been in Europe quite a bit earlier than previously thought. The find has implications for the continuing mystery of just what our ancestors did when they first encountered neandertals, and what they may have done in turn.

When I first read the news that scientists are finding evidence that our ancient ancestors interbred with other hominid species, I immediately thought, "Rishathra!" Since I know a significant minority of underprivileged readers are likely unfamiliar with Larry Niven's Ringworld series, I figured a link to the definition of the term would be in order. When I go there what do I find? Someone's already updated the entry to reflect the new science. Wikipedia. Such a wonderful thing.

Let's just be glad they don't own teeny-tiny shotguns: Scientists have discovered a number of insects over the years which use a zombie-creation strategy as part of their reproductive cycle. Plus: they seem to be dedicated to zombie-fying pests like roaches and moths. Minus: seems to be mostly wasps doing the deed.

By studying fossil teeth, scientists have found conclusive proof that dinosaurs migrated. I know, I know, "captain obvious with a chisel," but if they can prove an obvious point, it should mean they can prove less obvious ones, like perhaps which particular types of plant-eating dinosaurs the predators were eating at any one time.

Using modern algorithms and hardware, computer scientists have cracked a mysterious cipher from the 19th century. It seems it was all about a secret German society with a bizarre fascination with eyeballs. It's hoped the tools can be applied successfully to better-known but stubbornly intransigent ciphers like that used by the Zodiac Killer.

Scientists have finally figured out how the world's first recorded supernova got so big, so fast. Recorded by Chinese astronomers in 185 AD, the remnant was mapped in the 1960s and found to be much larger than expected. New data from the Spitzer space telescope finally provided the evidence necessary to explain the discrepancy.

New studies are indicating that playing video games assists in curing "lazy eye syndrome." Even better, the therapy works well after age 9, when conventional wisdom says the more traditional "eye patch and exercises" therapy stops working. More refined techniques using "perceptual learning" could provide even greater success.

A recently discovered dinosaur fossil is about to go on display in Germany. Thought to be as much as 98% complete, it represents the most intact fossil dinosaur in Europe and one of the most intact in the world. It's unsure which dinosaur it is or even how old it might have been when it died, but it's only a matter of time until that's all found out.

Scientists have announced the discovery of a common cause for all forms of ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease. The key is a problem neurons of the spine and brain have recycling certain kinds of proteins. The discovery has implications for new treatments of most kinds of dementias, including Alzheimer's.

New dating techniques have been used on an old archeological find to push back the date of the first human settlements in North America some eight centuries. Doesn't sound like too much when you're talking about an event that was at least 13,000 years ago, but you know scientists... always looking to get their name in the paper about something. Well, that, and the fact that such a push means the "new" old people used a culture different from the "old" old people.

While (apparently) the idea that human females living close together synchronize their menstrual cycles is still controversial, it's now been proven a species of monkey synchronizes the sexual receptiveness of a troupe's females. It's thought this provides a reproductive advantage to the females, since it helps to prevent the dominant male from monopolizing them. Think "embarrassment of riches," that sort of thing.

I'm just glad I wasn't the one forced to watch monkeys go at it for hours on end and then pick at their poo after they're done.

A "fully intact" Viking boat burial site has been found in the highlands of Scotland. It represents the best-preserved example of this type found so far in the UK. The find is part of a much larger archeological project who's objective is to chronicle changes in lifestyle from the earliest known traces of habitation right through to the modern era. I'll give them this, they don't lack for ambition.

By using a tiny robot originally developed as a spy, scientists have gained new insight into the evolution of flight. The "trees-down" team gets a boost while the "ground-up" side gets something to argue about.

And all this time, I thought it was the British museum that was old: a palace complex in ancient Babylon contained the world's first known museum. Built around 530 B.C., the museum contained exhibits still recognizable in the ruins when it was excavated more than two thousand years later.

It looks like relativity isn't going anywhere any time soon. It seems all that noise about particles going faster than light boiled down to a relativistic effect on the GPS clocks used to take the measurement. In other words, they found another proof of relativity figuring out the thing that might have been disproving it.

Scientists have announced the discovery of the earliest-known paint factory. The 100,000 year-old cave site contains artifacts used in just about every part of the process needed to turn ocher into red paint, pushing the time we first started creating art some 60,000 years.

A new study of the genome of the bacteria which caused the Black Death in the 14th century has revealed some surprising results. Not only has it not changed significantly in the past seven centuries, it appears that the plague of 1348 was in fact the very first caused by the bacterium we now know. Exactly why it was so virulent then, and what may have caused earlier less well-known plagues, is not clear.

By using actual skeletons instead of scale models, a team of scientists has determined T. Rex may have been nearly a third larger than previously thought. Which is neat as far as it goes, but those skeletons can have post-mortem "adjustments" over the eons which, I would think, may introduce the same sorts of errors that scale models often include. Unfortunately the article doesn't discuss how they controlled for this.

A UK team is preparing to drill into a deep lake in the Antarctic. Which just doesn't do justice to an effort requiring tons of gear to get a probe down through more than a mile and a half of ice to sample water sitting under 300 atmospheres of pressure at -20 degrees or more. All for a cup of water. Are humans a bunch of busybodies, or what?

A scientific team believes it has discovered evidence of a for-real "Kraken" that once swam in the Earth's Triassic seas. The evidence is, per usual, circumstantial and contested, but if it all pans out it means that some time in the past a monster twice the size of a colossal squid once swam the seas. I, for one, am very glad about the "once" part of that sentence.

Headline says it all: scientists are developing alternative breast implants using nanotechnology. Bonus: the tech can also be used as an alternative delivery vehicle for things like chemotherapy, reducing debilitating side effects.

Scientists have announced the discovery of the first known reptile with a true placenta. While live birth is something that's evolved independently many times in the history of life on Earth, it was long thought that only mammals had figured out placental nourishment. Now it looks like perhaps as many as three skink species have done it as well.

Scientists are announcing a breakthrough in getting artificial limbs to provide a sense of touch as well as brain-powered movement. Tests with monkeys have been very positive (and surprisingly free of "let's chop up the monkey" procedures). It's hoped a production system can be fielded within the next three years.

Scientists have announced the discovery of a significant new set of fossilized dinosaur tracks in southwest Arkansas. The find, which was laid down in the early Cretaceous period, includes the tracks of a very large predator which may be Acrocanthosaurus atokensis, as well as various other dinosaurs.

Headline basically says it all: the inside of the nose can help reveal the time of a person's death. It seems tiny finger-like projections called cilia continue to beat after death, and that they slow at a predictable and consistent rate. This should provide a more accurate estimation of time of death, especially in the first 24 hours. Sleep well tonight!

Using newly discovered electrical effects, a UK graduate student has created what can reasonably be termed a "flying carpet." Right now it's only a 10cm sheet of plastic which doesn't fly very high or go very fast, but it definitely proves the concepts are sound. Who knows where it'll end up next?

Ok, on the one hand scientists using an artificial cerebellum to make a rat blink is creepy on all sorts of levels. On the other, if it leads to something which cures all the various ailments that are caused by a defective cerebellum... well, it's still creepy, but it's creepy with a purpose.

Scientists have announced a new HIV vaccine which has successfully completed its first round of human trials. The vaccine is based on an altered version of a smallpox vaccine, and first proved itself in earlier studies involving mice and primates. Two more human trials must be passed before it would be considered for production.

Archeologists have announced the discovery of a huge ancient Roman shipyard. The appropriately named Portus contained the building, which was nearly five hundred feet long and two hundred feet wide.

Today, De Santo has a name for what happened that night: "crisis apparition." She stumbled onto the term while reading about paranormal activities after the incident. According to paranormal investigators, a crisis apparition is the spirit of a recently deceased person who visits someone they had a close emotional connection with, usually to say goodbye.

Read entire article here.

Scott does not believe in the afterlife. He believes in reincarnation. I do not. I am an absolute believer of ghost and the afterlife because I have had few experiences like this that you simply cannot explain.

Don't even get into a discussion with an atheist over the subject. Even though the majority of them believe in zombies.

Scientists are actually rather worried they've found evidence of things moving faster than the speed of light. They're concerned because there's lots of evidence that this shouldn't happen. The idea is to get someone else to duplicate the (presumably expensive) experiment so they can figure out what the heck is going on.

“We have collected over a thousand so far and we have only just begun,” said Denise Feiber, Public Information Director for Florida’s Division of Plant Industry.

Don't forget to watch the video!~

Make sure you click the link to see what this article is about!

Just when you thought nature couldn't get any more macabre: scientists have finally discovered the mechanism which certain beetle larva use to feed on much larger amphibians. In other news, there are finger-sized beetle larva which can eat a whole frog all by themselves! The article helpfully includes shiver-inducing pictures and video of just what this means. Creepy!

Scientists have discovered that not only do "just" digest food, the genetic information in that food can alter your own genes. Considering that we've been eating other things, well, forever, it's probably not as alarming as it would at first seem. Still, it may suggest new methods of treating diseases. A good thing!

Scientists have discovered that certain species of squid are will mate first, and never ask questions at all. By using unpiloted submersibles, scientists were able to observe clear indications that these squid do not bother to "check under the tail" to make sure they're mating with the opposite sex before they do the deed. The strategy may actually help increase the odds of a successful mating.

Scientists have found conclusive evidence that at least one raptor-like dinosaur used its talons as weapons. Because, you know, a giant razor-sharp claw attached to the foot of a critter that had feet just built for kicking things could be using it for something else. Shuffleboard, for example.

A US company has announced it's developing a radioactive steam-powered car engine. According to the company, the engine would be a turbine powered with steam heated by lasers powered by the mildly radioactive element thorium. According to the company the engine would go decades between refuelings, and be perfectly safe.

According to me it sounds like a load of hooey, but I do wish whichever venture capitalists that are under-writing this venture loads of luck. I have a feeling they're going to need it.

Most folks have heard of the mysterious Nazca lines, but have you heard of the stone wheels? They are just as strange, might be just as old, and there are thousands of them. I'm still pretty puzzled that, with so many, nobody seems to have done any research at all on them.

Making the rounds: scientists have discovered a wide variety of dinosaur feathers trapped in amber. The finds are so well preserved it's possible to figure out what colors they contain. It would seem our ancient giants could be every bit as colorful as a modern bird.

Scientists have announced the discovery of a new, very large, species of extinct fresh water crocodile. Acherontisuchus guajiraensis inhabited an ancient rainforest ecosystem some 60 million years ago, during Palaeocene times. It lived alongside an even bigger ancient snake, a 42 foot beast called Titanoboa. Fortunately, separate geologic eras mean Ellen actually can't have either of them. Not that she wouldn't try, mind you...

One scientist is on a mission to prove life can evolve based not on carbon, but on metal. It seems like he's managed to generate most of the structures which life needs to function, but hasn't figured out how to knit them all together into a critter. Nobody, even the guy behind the work, is completely sure it's possible. I wonder if it'll shine like chrome?

Scientists have announced the discovery of a new species of ancient toothed fish. Laccognathus embryi is thought to have been a bottom-dwelling ambush predator about six feet long, and lived in the late Devonian. While I'm thinking about ways to get away from something like this, I'll bet half of you are trying to figure out how you'd catch it.

By genetically manipulating a population of insects, scientists have created a "mutant army" that promises to be far more precise in destroying pest populations than any pesticide. The technique itself is not particularly new, but genetic manipulation allows it to be used more cheaply and effectively. If it helps kill mosquitoes, I'm all for it!

Turns out there's a reason why it sounds like Spanish speakers are talking a thousand miles an hour. I'd read, in other books, that it was because languages like English have more sounds (consonants, in this specific case) than others like Spanish, but it seems there's more to it than that.

Two primitive ape-like creatures, believed to be a mother and her young son, plunged through the roof of a cave and suffered a slow death from starvation.

Now scientists believe their fossilised skeletons show they could be our direct ancestors, the long-sought ‘missing link’ between apes and humans.

The things you find in caves. Amazing.

A new study using "crowdsourcing" techniques to spread traffic information at near-real-time to apps that then use that data to select the fastest route shows real promise in improving traffic flow any time, anywhere. Bonus: according to the article, less than half the vehicles on any road need to be using the system for it to provide maximum benefit. No, I don't completely understand it, either, but if it can help get me out of yet another Saturday morning traffic jam on the Beltway, sign me up!

A team of scientists has figured out exactly how a specific sort of microbe can generate electricity while it eats nuclear waste. They're hoping to use the knowledge to create a renewable energy source that cleans up toxic waste while it works. Everybody wins!

Giant king crabs have been discovered in large numbers in Antarctic waters. Since it's the BBC, the finding is treated as even more evidence of apocalyptic climate change. Fans of the Discovery show Deadliest Catch know that extermination of an undesirable king crab population is only a few seasons of unrestricted commercial fishing away. Predictably, this is illegal in the "threatened" waters.

Scientists have developed a micromachine which could lead to incredibly small mechanical spiders that swim through blood vessels to deliver drugs or heal injuries. After reading the article, I think they're quite a long way from something that cool, but you gotta start somewhere, even if that step is very, very small indeed.

Correct me if I am wrong, but aren't they supposed to screen the blood before giving it to another person?

Of the 162 cases of Babesia infection caused by blood transfusions between 1979 and 2009, nearly 80 percent occurred between 2000 and 2009.

"Babesia microti has become the most frequently reported transfusion-transmitted parasite in the United States," CDC researchers wrote, far outpacing malaria infections, which accounted for 49 cases of transfusion-associated disease during the same period, including just five cases during 2000-2009.

Scary.

Today there are 150 children, all conceived with sperm from one donor, in this group of half siblings, and more are on the way. “It’s wild when we see them all together — they all look alike,” said Ms. Daily, 48, a social worker in the Washington area who sometimes vacations with other families in her son’s group.

But...

Now, there is growing concern among parents, donors and medical experts about potential negative consequences of having so many children fathered by the same donors, including the possibility that genes for rare diseases could be spread more widely through the population. Some experts are even calling attention to the increased odds of accidental incest between half sisters and half brothers, who often live close to one another.

Read the entire article.

"AMCGLTD," we hear you ask, "I've figured out how to turn insects into remote controlled spies ready to do my bidding, but I can't make the batteries small enough. My madcap plans for world domination cannot be held up because of that stupid Energizer Bunny! What can I do?"

Fear not, kind Doofenshmirtzian, DARPA is here to help!

It seems the fate of the Standard Model may be decided before Thanksgiving. The Large Hadron Collider is collecting data so efficiently that the experiments designed to prove (or disprove) the existence of the Higgs particle, predicted by the Standard Model to be the transmitter of the force of gravity, may be completed much sooner than expected. This evidence will likely determine if the Standard Model, which has held up so well over the past 40 years, is complete, or if it must be discarded for another theory.

In the "never think any science is useless file" we found the discovery that poo from China's giant panda may end up being the key that unlocks efficient biodiesel production. It seems there's an enzyme in there that allows the panda to convert 95 percent of the plant matter it ingests into energy. It's hoped that, once the enzyme is synthesized, it will allow the creation of a cheaper process for converting plant matter into biodiesel.

Anything that puts hajji closer to the breadline...

Scientists have discovered the specific area of the brain that keeps a Rick Astley song stuck in your head until you go mad. By studying volunteers with different kinds of dementia, as well as healthy people, an area of the brain called the right anterior temporal lobe has been discovered to have a primary role in musical remembrance.

Hang on a minute... "volunteers with different kinds of dementia"?

It's everything the shrieking chimps on my side of the peanut gallery ever wanted: scientists have discovered a microbe that eats newspapers and craps gasoline. Ok, not gasoline, but something really close to it. If we could only find one that ate columnists. Or, you know, at least Olberman. I kid, I kid...

Seriously, though. Gas has been so high for so long there are now, what, six, seven different groups chasing microbes that poop diesel or something like it? I desperately want one of these bunches to go public, because which ever one of them hits the jackpot will quite literally change the world.

Evidence from the Large Hadron Collider seems to be burying the simpler supersymmetry theories. In other worse, the bazillion dollar big science toy is actually starting to do its job.

A scientist who was involved in cloning Dolly the sheep 15 years ago has started work on a new technique to clone rare Scottish wildcats.

Embryologist Dr Bill Ritchie said the project could help protect the species which is thought to numb>er about 400 cats in the wild.

Bring back the Scottish MEOW!

A report detailing scientific findings of a study on how cosmic rays interact with cloud formation is likely to force "substantial revision" of existing climate models. Science will always provide the right answer, until provided with new data. Then it will provide a new, right answer. Keep that in mind the next time a green proposes... well... anything.

By using a sophisticated imaging technique who's description made my head explode, scientists have directly imaged the orbits of a molecule's electrons. What good does it do? Who cares! They're taking pictures of molecules, man! The article does mention something about designer molecules, but by that point I was all, "vibrating wha???" Anyway, sounds good enough to me!

A spectacular fossil found in China is bringing the fossil record of mammals more in line with the DNA evidence of their, our, evolution. Juramaia sinensis was only a few inches long, but displays the unmistakable characteristics of a placental mammal 35 million years earlier than any other previous fossil.

Scientists believe a fishing technique known as "conching" is slowly spreading through an Australian population of dolphins. Considering how long dolphins have been around, you'd think they would've figured it out sooner.

A new genetic study is calling the conventional story of just how Europe was populated into question. Previously, it was thought farmers from the plains of central Turkey gradually displaced the hunter-gatherer tribes native to the region. A recent Y chromosome study seems to indicate that the hunter-gatherers stayed where they were, and just changed jobs.

Scientists have developed a wetsuit that promises to let swimmers go faster. The trick? Extra-long artificial "hairs" that go right through the thing, which, according to the guys who invented it, allows the swimmer to more effectively feel and therefore control the water flow around them. Thing is, last I heard the "in thing" was to shave the whole body for competition. Of course, that was more than twenty years ago. These kids, always thinking up new things!

Important science find: the ancestor of the yeast responsible for lager has been found in the forests of Patagonia. It's thought the yeast managed to hitch-hike back over the Atlantic, where it was inadvertently hybridized and, eventually, turned into the species which is used by brewers the world over today.

Scientists have announced the discovery fossils which may represent the oldest direct evidence of life on the early Earth. These sulfur-processing microbes lived a whopping 3.4 billion years ago, and their discovery may provide insights into if, how, and where Mars may have developed life as well.

Scientists have announced the development of an innovative warhead material. The substance is a combination of metal and polymers which is more destructive than a standard explosive and also strong enough to be shaped into the nose of, say, a missile or even a bullet. The result is said to be a much more destructive "kill," that also reduces collateral damage.

A new survey of ancient Egyptian mummies has revealed they spent as much time preserving their hair as they did the rest of their bodies. Seems like priests and priestesses shaved their heads, but nobody else did. At least, 3000 years ago in Egypt it was like that, which was when their sample of mummies were created. It's important to keep in mind that, even at that date, the pyramids were already 1500 years old.

An engineering team has developed an innovative trainer to help golfers improve their putting game. No pictures are provided, but the description makes it sound like an elaborate frame that uses wires to ensure the swing is correct and straight. Expensive, yes, but most things in golf seem to be. Me, I fly RC helicopters instead. You can't mow down dragonflies with a golf ball!

The on-again, off-again debate on whether or not dark matter even exists is now on again. I've read enough popular science books to become convinced the stuff probably does exist, but I must admit it all seems really kludge-y. Getting rid of it would make this place conceptually a bit more elegant, in my opinion.

A new tech start-up is promising drones with infinite endurance using laser power. It's not the first time I've heard of such a scheme, indeed the article mentions a better-known instance when the company in question actually won a prize from NASA for powering a proof-of-concept space elevator prototype. I can't help but wonder how they plan on solving the "over-the-horizon" problem though. Lasers don't exactly bend with the curvature of the Earth, ya know?

While it has only been tried on exactly three patients, a new drug treatment holds real promise for being an outright cure for a common form of cancer. Using a re-engineered HIV virus to customize white blood cells has been a technique I've read about for twenty years or more. It's nice to see it finally paying off. Assuming it continues to pay off, that is.

Scientists have found fossil evidence that very large birds once roamed with the dinosaurs. Prior evidence seemed to indicate that Cretaceous birds consisted almost exclusively of crow-sized creatures, but the lower jaw found recently indicates birds which may have stood taller than an ostrich also lived at that time.

Scientists have announced the discovery that Texas was once joined to Antarctica. Once joined 1.1 billion years ago, that is, which puts it so far back it predates just about all known multi-cellular life. Back then that whole part of the world was a blasted wasteland unfit for human habitation. Now that I think about it, Texas really hasn't changed all that much, has it?

Exit, stage right!

Scientists are reporting the discovery of artificial genes in "escapee" weed plants. It seems that, once a crop plant gets out of its field it's then called a weed, and these weeds have been found not only all over the place, but with other artificial genes in their makeup that they could only have gotten through wild interbreeding. While not a doomsday proclamation in and of itself, the findings do provide worrying evidence that it is at least possible that fully wild weeds could one day acquire artificial resistance to widely used weed killers.

Scientists have announced the ability to create basic computer circuits out of diamond. These new nano-material circuits should allow the construction of far more robust digital devices, able to operate in environments where normal circuitry would fail.

Scientists have announced the discovery of a thin band of antimatter circling the Earth. There's enough out there that people are beginning to scheme ways to go out and harvest it. What could possibly go wrong?

Scientists have announced a significant positive step forward in farming blue fin tuna. It would be a massive step forward if aquaculture of this endangered and unfortunately tasty fish can be made economically viable.

A genetic study has found that about half of all European men "share king Tut's DNA", which is a classic MSM distortion of, "share a common ancestor with king Tut." The finding is still quite surprising, since Tut himself was a member of a (now) rare haplogroup.

Scientists have announced the discovery of a 20 million year-old ape fossil. It represents the first known instance of cranial remains of an ape of this age.

Scientists have finally figured out some tests to see if we really do live in a "multiverse". As I understand it, a lot of conflict between relativity and quantum mechanics, particularly with regard to gravity, can be explained if our universe is just one of many "bubble" universes. And that's about as far as I can get, since the physicists who's books I've read sort of sputter out at that point because they can't use the right sort of math in a popular science book. Anyway, testing is good!

More hurdles seem to have been cleared in the effort to get algae to poop diesel. Last I heard the stumbling block was in making sure regular algae didn't contaminate the engineered kind. That's not mentioned at all here, so either a) they've fixed it or b) they've got enough money to build some sort of big factory that'll put the critters in a white room. Bonus: the greens better damned well love it because it eats CO2 as part of the process. Double bonus: puts hajji that much closer to the breadline. Triple bonus: creates American jorbs!!!

A new report published in the medical journal Topics in Geriatric Rehabilitation is extolling the virtues of yoga-based therapy in treating many kinds of common injuries. Doesn't seem like it would be a big deal to just try it.

Scientists have announced the birth of a genetically modified beagle that glows in the dark. The modification is actually a rather routine proof-of-concept that should pave the way for more meaningful alterations which could help advance any number of medical research projects.

Just when you thought the insect world was done with surprises, someone comes along to explain something like an insect which uses a re-activated gene to alter a body part to look like an aggressive ant. It's actually uglier than the bug that imitates bird poo, which turns out to be a cousin. Nature can be a damned strange place, I tell ya...

Another day, another new technique to make submarines invisible. Covering something in a mesh that leaves water completely undisturbed after an object passes is all well and good, but if it only works for sugarcube-sized objects barely moving at all, I'm not sure how practical it will be. Still, gotta start somewhere.

Slashdot has a whole set of links regarding new research that attempts to predict gender based on twitter posts. I've got a much simpler rule: they're all male federal agents.

Well, thank you, but I already have a foil hat that fits better than this one. Maybe you should think about using it yourself?

Scientists have announced the discovery that several of the most massive volcanic eruptions on Earth in the past 250 million years share the same magma source. Better still, this source seems to be made up of primordial material that's essentially unchanged since the planet was formed. If further investigations hold up the conclusion, it will fundamentally change how geologists look at the composition of the planet.

Archeologists have announced the discovery of an apostle's tomb in south east Turkey. I'm not familiar with St. Philip, but (being a heathen) I guess I shouldn't expect to be. I'm always surprised at how many ancient Christian sites of such importance end up being completely lost to history.

A new scientific study is proposing to boot Archeopteryx from the base of the bird family tree and replace it with a previously unknown chicken-sized dinosaur. Everyone seems to concede the idea has merit, but needs more data and examination. While women and minorities will of course be hardest hit by this revelation, Archeopteryxes (Archeopteryxii?) are expected to continue being important to science.

Scientists have found evidence that dark winters caused humans living in higher latitudes to evolve larger eyes. Brain size, presumably to process the extra optic information, also increased. Unfortunately the article doesn't specify by just how much, but, since humans have lived in such high latitudes for a comparatively short period of time, it does show how elastic our genes can be when confronted with new environmental pressures.

Scientists have discovered a fossil crocodile which looks, and probably lived, more like a wild dog than a swamp king. I'm pretty much fine with this thing being extinct.

A new look at some very old footprints is providing even more evidence that our ancient ancestors walked in a way nearly identical to our own. The evidence for bipedalism has been pushed back so far now it's my understanding some scientists are mulling over the idea that the ancestor we share with chimpanzees may have had this ability, and part of the chimp's evolution was its loss.

Scientists have determined that some species of stick insect have gone without sexual reproduction for more than a million years. The conclusion was reached after genetically analyzing stick insect species known to reproduce via cloning. It's thought the information will provide insight into various reproductive issues. Oh, and the bugs are damned ugly, too.

Scientists have announced the discovery that all non-African humans have Neandertal DNA in their genes. It's thought the admixture was created mostly in the Middle East as our ancestors made their way out of Africa. The study confirms other evidence brought to light in the years since the Neandertal genome was sequenced.

Scientists have announced a breakthrough treatment which promises significant protection from the HIV virus. It's hoped this will provide another alternative for third-world prevention of the disease, since various other well-known techniques have proven stubbornly ineffective in the face of such traditional societies' values.

A toad not seen in the wild for more than 80 years has been found again, and boy, is it urgly!. No, Ellen, you can't have one.

Scientists think that a newly discovered dinosaur fossil has finally closed the "three meter gap." Seems that what we didn't learn in school was (until now) no dinosaur fossils had been found in the sediments laid down just before the KT boundary, leading many scientists to claim dinosaurs were on their way out long before the sky fell on them. Will it end the debate? Is a bear Polish?

Scientists have discovered tiny snails with the ability to survive a bird's digestive system and emerge intact and alive out the other side. The survival rate is still low, 15%, but represents a previously unknown method of snail distribution.

A scuba diver in Australia may have captured photos of the first known case of tool use... in fish. Banging things on a rock to make them do what you want may not constitute tool use to some people, but it represents a valuable technique for shade tree mechanics the world over.

Next time you walk on sand remember this!

Incredible!

UK Scientists have unveiled the skull of one of the largest predators ever to swim the seas. The "Dorset pliosaur" represent a new species or even genus, and is one of the best preserved skulls of the type yet found.

A new genetic study has revealed extinct Irish bears are the maternal ancestors of all living polar bears. Article helpfully includes an "oh, hai!!!" picture of a bear.

Scientists have announced the first successful transplant of a fully synthetic organ. By using an innovative new technique to create a "scaffold" for adult stem cells, an international team were able to fashion a completely new windpipe for a patient who's original was damaged by inoperable cancer. This definitely sounds more complex than something like a bladder. Can even more complex regeneration be far behind?

Scientists are beginning to find evidence that the color of the lights we surround ourselves with and stare at can affect how well we sleep at night. The article is long on interesting implications we should all sit around in the dark, but short on emphasizing how preliminary the findings are. Still, it does suggest experiments anyone can do. Just shut the computer and smartphone off one hour before bed and leave them off.

Hang on. Someone go fetch smelling salts or something. Ellen just passed out at the very thought.

Scientists have announced a possible treatment for the remarkable, and cruel, genetic disease progeria. This disease, which causes children to develop the signs of rapid aging as toddlers and deadly age-related diseases as teenagers, is caused by exactly one genetic defect. Study and treatment of the disease holds the promise of wider applications in people who age normally.

Scientists have discovered a "monster" driving a cosmic beacon. What I grew up knowing as a quasar has now been spotted so far back in the universe's history it is surrounded by a significant amount of the gas which is thought to have constituted the universe before stars were born.

By using high-speed photography, scientists have figured out the secret behind Tibetan singing bowls. The discoveries may help shed light on other fluid systems, such as fuel injection. Article helpfully includes a picture of what an old Englishman can do when one of these plays.

No, not the kind of ant farm that lives between plates of glass, I'm talking about an ant farm where the ants are herding livestock. It hasn't been conclusively proven that this specific species of ant actually is farming meat, but it seems likely.

Robert H. gets a no-prize that'll power a soon-to-be-extinct light bulb for bringing us news that scientists at the University of Minnesota have created a metal alloy that generates electricity when it gets hot. Exactly how much electricity is created, and how much this alloy costs to construct, isn't clear, but they gotta start somewhere.

A new study claims the shape of a woman's lip can predict how likely a woman is to achieve orgasm. Ok, ladies, no problem, we'll wait. Done looking in the mirror? Good. And you all thought we were silly about that whole finger length thing.

Climate change, for the rest of us: the Sahara Desert is growing greener, at an unprecedented pace. The source? National Geographic News. Which is too bad, really. Hopefully the zealots will leave some trace after they're done punishing them for such heresy.

A macabre discovery in an ancient well has provided scientists with an unprecedented opportunity to study life, and death, as a Medieval Jew in Britain. Includes gratuitous "everything looks like a nail" quotes from the lead scientist, who's quotes make it seem as if they're mistaking Norfolk for Kosovo.

A clever new experiment has confirmed a forty year-old prediction about quantum mechanics. The article starts out by saying it proves a particle can be in three places at once, but finishes by implying other things. Quantum mechanics is cool, but makes my head hurt. You go figure it out.

Leave it to the Germans to solve the problem of an archeological dig by cranking the whole site out of the ground and carting it away. Definitely does away with the pesky bugs and occasional sunstroke often inflicted on the volunteers and scientists on your typical dig.

So, do humans sense magnetic fields, and if so, how? The answer, it seems is all in the eye of the beholder. Hopefully needing glasses won't affect whatever this may be, because if it is I'm sunk.

By using a new hormone treatment and an innovative surgical matrix, doctors have developed a therapy which could substantially reduce the number of amputations required because of trauma. War is always the worst way to discover new technologies, but I'll take what it provides.

Over the past few centuries, and likely before then, men harvesting peat in European bogs have struck upon remarkable and, to the peat cutters, no doubt frightening discoveries. More than a thousand bog bodies and skeletons have come to light, and scientists now have the means to study the remains in such detail that they can, in a sense, resurrect these ancient people.

See the map and the mummies themselves!

Also 10 ways to make a mummy.

The man who mesmerized generations of paying customers from 1947 to 1984 by extracting venom at his Miami Serpentarium as a spine-tingling South Florida attraction is dead.

He died of natural causes on Wednesday in Punta Gorda, on Florida’s west coast, where he had made his home.

He was 100 years old.

The key to longevity here...play with snakes. Venomous ones.

A new archeological expedition to the famed pirate Blackbeard's shipwreck has revealed insights into the tactics he used in attacking his prey. Improvised munitions such as bags of shrapnel and chained cannonballs indicate clever uses of limited materials. Still no word of the treasure, though...

Pleased to be welcoming Spongiforma squarepantsii, the latest in that oh-so-rare category of "named" fungus species. The article doesn't seem to mention if it's edible or not. Coming to a pineapple-shaped house near you!

Robert H. gets a no-prize that'll be embarrassed when it takes off its swim trunks for bringing us the story of the naked yoga instructor and the beluga whales. It seems the thinking is belugas do not like being touched by artificial stuff, so some folks in north-west Russia chucked the previously noted naked yoga expert into the (nearly freezing) water with them, to see if she had an easier time taming them. No, really! Article contains artsy-ish sort of "nud" pictures, so if that'll get you in trouble at work, wait 'till you get home.

Scientists with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers were inspecting the Martis Creek Dam, which sits just outside Truckee, Calif., and about 35 miles upstream from Reno. It is one of 10 dams in the United States that has “urgent and compelling” safety concerns, according to the Corps, which owns the dam. Data from the most recent evaluation revealed that, not only does the dam have significant leakage, it also lies in close proximity to not two, but three fault zones.

Introducing the Polaris Fault.

How do I meete myne maker? Lette me counte the wase. People have been dying in amusingly macabre ways throughout history. I guess it's just the thought of all those elaborate clothes, coupled with the existence of actual records, that makes the Tudor era more informative in this respect than any previous time.

Scientists have announced the creation of cells which can create laser beams. By using a common genetic engineering trick to get specific cells to glow and then bathing them in a special sort of light, green laser light was detected emitting from them. Aside from the endless Dr. Evil imitations this enables, the development is also thought to hold promise for new types of light therapies and medical imaging.

So, is it really better to run barefoot? On the face of it, it's hard to argue that a few decades of running shoes would better the few million years of evolution on the savannah. As usual, human obstinacy can easily overcome both. It'd never occurred to me that shoes make you walk (or run) differently, but that's what a cyclist gets for thinking about running.

By using new techniques and technology, scientists at CERN have massively increased the time antimatter can be held for study. It's still only 15 minutes, so we're not going to see the stuff powering a starship any time soon, but it should allow much more extensive experiments to understand the nature of this exotic stuff.

Theories that the sense of smell may be intimately related to quantum physics are gaining respectability. Most importantly, they seem to also be gaining testability. The research could lead to chemical sensors far more sensitive than anything available today. And, you know, a lot of head-crunchingly hard math.

Scientists have announced an experiment that seems to show a subatomic particle's location and it's speed at the same time. A closer reading reveals it's not really a violation of Heisenberg's uncertainty principal, but it probably does mean something important. Exactly what, I don't know. My head always gets all 'asplodey when it comes to quantum mechanics.

The heaviest elements yet discovered have now officially joined the periodic table. The as-yet-unnamed elements 114 and 116 exist for only fractions of a second before decaying into other stuff, but they do represent progress toward an "island of stability" which could see the creation of new super-heavy elements that can last for years or longer. Because nothing says safety like physicists creating artificial super-heavy, long-lived elements in the lab.

Scientists are making progress figuring out why it's so difficult to recall early memories of childhood. I believe I can recall events in my own childhood very far back, but it's very difficult to confirm this sort of thing nowadays.

By examining isotopes found in tooth enamel, scientists have discovered that our ancient ancestral sisters moved around, while our ancestral brothers stayed put. This is a pretty common pattern for human societies even today, although I'm not clever enough to beat Wikipedia into letting me know if it has a name. Using Australopethicids instead of a later species means the sample size is very small, so it will be interesting to see if the discovery holds up.

Scientists have discovered complex multicellular life-forms living at depths in the Earth's crust far below what was previously thought possible. While nematode worms aren't much to look at, their survival in such inhospitable environs suggests that places like Mars may not be as uninhabitable as previously thought.

Scientists have captured images of supersonic shock waves exiting a trombone. First predicted in 1995, these shock waves are a quirk of the instrument, and not something found with other instruments. I guess that's where the distinctive "blat" sound comes from. With video!

Scientists have announced the discovery of mysterious markings along the walls of an obscure passage inside Egypt's Great Pyramid. Bonus: It seems the magician who advised the pharaoh building the pyramid was named "Djedi." No, really!

A new fossil find has revealed the world's earliest-known giant critter got bigger, and lived longer, than anyone previously realized. In a world where "big" started at about six inches and went DOWN, the two (and now three) foot anomalocaridids must've been amazing, terrifying creatures.

Update: Fox News has a CGI model of the critter. It's OOOGLY!!!

By using new infrared imaging techniques, scientists have used survey satellites to find dozens of previously unknown archeology sites in Egypt. The finds seem to include a few (presumably smallish) pyramids. Every time I think Egypt couldn't possibly have more things to find, I'm proven wrong.

By allowing robots to develop a language all their own scientists are finding they actually start having things to say. Doesn't seem quite like the "boop-beep" of our titular Star Wars character, but it may be close.

An archeological journal has published details of a recently discovered bronze-age battlefield in what is now Germany. It represents possibly the earliest-known evidence of warfare in European history.

Mark gets a no-prize on a boat that'll eventually cause a different set of loons to predict the end of the world for bringing us news that not only did the Maya have a strong seafaring tradition, they left behind enough of it for the modern world to study. Apparently Columbus's actually described the long canoes the Maya used to trade all manner of goods across the Western Hemisphere.

British archeologists have announced the grim discovery of what happens to the spoils after the victor is done with them. Such brutality is common in war, even today, which is yet another reason to avoid it whenever possible.

A revolutionary form of therapy is promising unprecedented hope to spinal cord injury victims. By using a pacemaker-like device to send electric pulses at strategic points on the spine, at least one paraplegic has gained the ability to stand and control other body functions. Exactly how it all works isn't covered in the article, but that it does is in no doubt.

Scientists have published a new study which describes an alternative, non-Darwinian, method of evolution. Chemical defects in protein structures make them more likely to stick together, and therefore begin to work together. It's not meant to replace evolution, but supplement it.

Scientists have announced the discovery of the earliest known case of heart disease. The "patient" is a 3500 year-old royal Egyptian mummy scanned as part of a larger project to scan 52 mummies for various diseases. The finding provides evidence that these sorts of diseases are not limited to the modern era.

Color me unsurprised: a new, more accurate model of how glaciers melt show that sea levels will not rise as high as previously predicted. I can already hear the shouts of "apostasy!" and "heretic!" from the left side of the peanut gallery. Attacking religious beliefs tends to do that, ya know...

It looks like a spoon full of sugar really does help the medicine. It doesn't just make it easier to take; scientists have discovered it also helps antibiotics shut down infectious bacteria that otherwise is resistant to standard treatment protocols. So much for that whole, "sugar is poison!!!" meme that ran through the newsrooms a few weeks ago, eh?

Scientists have announced the discovery of what may be the Nenderthal's final refuge. The find consists of fossils and tool kits consistent with our cold-weather cousins dating to about 30,000 years ago. As with anything in anthropology, the findings are important but contentious.

From the BBC.

How A Fetus Gets A Face. From the show: "Inside the Human Body."

His injury happened in November 2008 when Wiens, now 26, was painting his church as a volunteer: His head got too close to a high-voltage power line, and he lost almost his entire face from the burns.

For 90 days, doctors kept him in a medically induced coma while they performed surgeries and he breathed through a ventilator. Many people didn't think he'd make it out of the intensive care unit, Janis said Monday.

But he did survive. Janis connected with Dr. Bohdan Pomahac, Burn Unit director at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Massachusetts, who had previously performed a partial face transplant. Pomahac became the team leader for more than 30 medical professionals who would take part in Wiens' surgery.

With video!

Science is an amazing thing!

If this article is true, my daughter is the smartest person on the planet. So is every other kid out there. If the research leads to treatment, I'm ... oooh! Shiny!

The size and spacing of the tooth marks on the specimen found do not match any potential predators or prey, but are consistent with bites from another ichthyosaur.

By using a simulation of small robots (yes, simulated robots, keep up here) scientists claim to have found proof for a fundamental, and apparently controversial, evolutionary theory. Seems like there's been one of those classic slow-motion flame wars you sometimes get in academic journals about this theory recently. As with all such dusty-deadly book fights, the other side is sticking to their guns and not buying any of it.

A new study of the famous "Tasmanian tiger" has revealed the creature probably hunted more like a cat than a wolf. It seems the unique environment in which it evolved lead to unique adaptations in the way it hunted.

Scientists have discovered the sun may be influencing the rate of radioactive decay of elements on the Earth. What was once thought to be a universal constant has turned out to not be so constant after all.

Remember those tsunami before and after images you can play with?

Now you have just as much horrifying fun with the Alabama tornados!

It just goes to remind you to be grateful for what you have on a daily basis. Not only did people lose their lives, but their homes, businesses and their communities.

Scientists have found proof armadillos can transmit leprosy to humans. Fortunately the disease is curable nowadays, although the damage it does can't be reversed. As if I needed a reason to stay away from the darned things...

Scientists have released a study which claims current synthetic skin products are every bit as good as the real stuff, at least when it comes to animal testing. Keeping Mr. Rat away from the makeup testing is all well and good, but I'm curious about the potential for burn victims. Oh, and the possibilities for complicating the lives of vegans with extra choices in footwear sound fun, too.

Scientists in Japan have announced the development of lasers small enough and tough enough to replace the venerable spark plug in an internal combustion engine. Such devices should allow increases in power and fuel economy, along with reduced emissions.

Scientists have announced the successful use of quantum entanglement to transmit information without loss. Use in quantum computers is all well and good, but I have to wonder if this also points the way toward a method of communication which is unaffected by the speed of light.

Scientists have, for the first time, confirmed that ancient structures known as "desert kites" were in fact used for the mass slaughter of gazelles. The emphasis on what an environmental disaster this practice was is a predictable anachronism. The regional population of gazelle fell, yes, but the world did not run out of them. People were far too busy with more important concerns, like not starving or getting slaughtered themselves by competing warlords.

Scientists have released a new study of human language that reveals its evolution was more complex than previously thought. It seems that the idea that our brains are computers with language "chips" installed in them isn't supported by the data.

Per usual, other scientists don't think the "gay cave man" was, well, gay. Instead, they find the idea of a "3rd gender" more likely. Because that's a lot different from a guy who likes to kiss other guys or dress up like a woman. Much different.

^{Not that there's anything wrong with that} (obligatory)

Scientists are now claiming going "cold turkey" by giving up a smart phone may produce withdrawal-like symptoms. I've seen Ellen panic, pure, wild-eyed panic, over only two things in her life... her child, and her phone. The time it takes her to get the former to the hospital compares favorably with the time it takes her to get the latter to the Verizon store.

Scientists have announced the discovery of "the world's first gay cave man." The individual, a member of the "corded ware" society, lived about five thousand years ago in what is today a suburb of Prague. He was found to be buried in a way normally reserved only for women, right up to grave goods associated with getting a sammich.

Robert H. gets one of the less expected no-prizes for bringing us news that Chinese scientists have genetically engineered cattle to produce something resembling human milk. The "ick" factor is high with this one. Then again, if it keeps little kids from starving, how bad can it be? Added bonus: it gets the anti-GM crowd, purest of the pure green fanatics, in an absolute froth. That must be a good thing.

Every time I turn around, it seems like someone's made a new discovery about the Antikythera mechanism, that utterly unprecedented computer from the ancient world. This time, it turns out to have included the ability to vary the motion of the moon and the sun as it made its various calculations. Goodness only knows how much this thing really cost to build.

Yeah, I guess when you exaggerate the Earth's gravitational field in a photo, it does sorta look like a potato. Personally, I'm wondering just why the variations are where they are.

A 2,500-year-old human skull uncovered in England was less of a surprise than what was in it: the brain. The discovery of the yellowish, crinkly, shrunken brain prompted questions about how such a fragile organ could have survived so long and how frequently this strange type of preservation occurs.

By studying genetic material floating around in the ocean, scientists have discovered tantalizing evidence that a fourth domain of life may exist, previously undiscovered, on Earth. It may be some sort of virus. It may be something we've been mistaking for bacteria. Heck it might be the Obama administration's backbone. Nobody knows.

Scientists have developed a new catalyst for fuel cells that is just as powerful but costs a fraction of platinum-based catalysts in current use. Even better: these carbon nanotube-based items don't "rot" the same way their platinum equivalents do, and can run on fuel that's easier to store than raw hydrogen.

By examining 50 year-old leftover samples, scientists have discovered evidence that the primordial Earth may have had a much more sophisticated soup of organic compounds than previously thought. And that, folks, is why experimental evidence is seldom, if ever, thrown away on purpose.

A different group of scientists are proposing (yet another) set of reasons to explain why Henry VIII fell apart. This time, it's a genetic disorder combined with a rare blood type that did the deed. Ya know, it obviously won't kill the guy to maybe take a sample or two from his body. Yeah, I get it, "good luck convincing Queenie to dig up the floor of her personal chapel" and all that. Ah, well...

A new survey of existing hunter-gatherer bands has validated a new theory about how, and why, the human/chimpanzee split occurred. By confirming through genetic surveys that hunter-gatherer groups are actually not strongly related to each other, scientists have confirmed a prediction of the new theory that it was our ancestors' ability to recognize and cooperate with each other that started us on the road to humanity.

Scientists have announced the development of a scribing technique which could allow the creation of cheaper, more powerful solar power cells. The proof-of-concept project is set to run for 3 years, at the end of which we will presumably know if this will, well, actually work or not.

A group of scientists are claiming to have discovered the iconic city of Atlantis. This time, it's buried under a mud flat in southern Spain. We missed the premiere of the documentary mentioned, but it's on the Tivo's schedule now. Makes for a nice idea, it'll be interesting to see just what they've found.

Scientists have announced the discovery of a community the likes of which the world hasn't seen in perhaps sixty-five million years. True, crinoids aren't as glamorous as, say, a Tyrannosaur, but the find is remarkable nonetheless.

I'm sure most folks in the audience are glad the 3% of our genetic make-up that isn't chimpanzee includes the bit that turns off spines on the male penis. Being humans, I'm sure there are some folks in the peanut gallery who are disappointed.

Scientists at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory have announced the development of a more powerful biofuel which uses decaying grass instead of corn. Which is all well and good, until you remember the real reason we use ethanol is it provides a back-door subsidy for corn farmers. It'll be interesting to see how this plays out.

A National Geographic field team has announced the discovery of an impact crater in central Africa. It represents the first confirmed crater found in the area. Currently the impactor is thought to have been about half a mile across, but it's still unclear just when it happened.

Scientists are reporting successfully creating and implanting artificial urethrae into humans. No, it's not the most glamorous application, but if the alternative is a permanent catheter, I'm all for it.

Jack Horner's attempt to create a "chickenosaurus," a genetically modified chicken which expresses dinosaur traits, seem to be making progress. He still seems optimistic, well, as optimistic as Horner ever does, but it sounds like he's beginning to back away from the idea that they'll get a living, breathing example in a few years.

A new series of experiments has confirmed the unexpected mechanisms which cause ripples to form on icicles. The research may reveal new ways to, for instance, prevent ice from forming on the wings of airplanes.

Darpa's at it again, this time awarding a contract to have a "cheetah-bot" built. This is the same company that brought us that freaky mule-bot, so I don't doubt they're capable of it. Bonus: they're also working on a Terminator look-alike.

A new reconstruction of Oetzi, the world-famous "iceman" discovered twenty years ago this year, shows he looked like pretty much what you'd expect of a grizzled veteran of the late neolithic. Every time it seems like science is done with one poor old bastard unfortunate enough to drop dead on the ice, they go and find something new.

Scientists have announced the development of a genetically engineered fungus which goes after malarial mosquitoes. As someone who grew up in southeast Arkansas, where the mosquitoes would either eat you there or take you home, anything that makes life difficult for the beasties is OK by me.

A new study has discovered prolonged cell phone use increases brain activity. If this really is true, Ellen and Amber must have the most active brains in human history.

While the "convincing evidence" seems kinda slim to me, an answer to the mysterious disappearance of an ancient Roman legion may finally have been found. Looks like we've got a nifty fiction movie and another documentary about this coming out soon.

US Navy researches have broken records with a new, more powerful version of a free electron laser. Currently the demo version pumps out 14kw, but the Navy has awarded a contract to develop a 100kw variant. Cruise missiles? What cruise missiles?

As if carbon didn't have enough to do already, scientists are predicting that under very specific conditions, carbon can be turned into a gel. This upends the conventional wisdom about gels, which previously were believed to require a solid and liquid component. Nobody's actually managed to make the stuff, yet, but that can't be far behind.

By carefully re-creating artificial toes (no, really) found in Egyptian tombs, a scientist has found further proof these are not after-death decoration, but are instead actual, and ancient, prostheses. Unfortunately the artifacts weren't accompanied by an instruction manual, and no literary sources seem to reference them, so the jury still stays out.

So, the Canadians are becoming our most important source of foreign oil. New technologies have increased the potential of our own domestic oil fields a whopping 2,400%. Can we now put to rest the notions that "peak oil" will somehow doom us all? Secular people roll their eyes at creationists for their obstinate refusal to acknowledge basic facts. Funny, that...

Via Instapundit.

A recently described hominid fossil is providing even more evidence that Lucy and her kindred walked upright almost exactly the same way we do. Yeah, you'd think by now everyone would be convinced, but anthropologists are a hard-headed bunch.

By using Google Earth, armchair archeologists are discovering thousands of sites in places difficult, if not impossible, to survey on the ground. I once went on an archeological "walkabout" in the Nile valley and was stunned at the number of obvious sites that neither I or Wikipedia knew anything about. Maybe there's an ancient library down there somewhere.

When smelling breath samples the dog's success rate was about 95 per cent and that figure climbed to 98 per cent when smelling stool samples.

Once again, a dog's nose is amazing!

A series of experiments seems to confirm Vikings actually did use special "sunstones" to navigate the ocean on foggy days. The polarization of light seems to be the key.

Scientists have announced the ability provide a hydrogen disguise for helium. Finding the Universe's Smallest Costume Shop was apparently the toughest part.

Thank you, thank you. I'll be here all week. Try the veal!

Making the rounds: a British company has announced the development of a synthetic fuel which can be used in existing automobiles that produces no greenhouse gasses when burned, and could be had for as little as $1.50 per gallon. This has "pipe dream" written on it in titanic green neon letters, but if it DOES turn out to be true, there's at least one hard-left greenie in the peanut gallery who's going to owe me a pizza while he helps me shred all his "peak oil ZOMG! DISASTER!" literature.

Ever wonder who you're really talking to when you argue with yourself? Turns out, it may be your "other half." By studying patients who, for one reason or another, have had the hemispheres of their brain disconnected, scientists have determined that the two halves of our brain represent discrete, conscious, and potentially independent entities. This is all fine when everything is wired up properly, but when the wiring goes wrong the results can lead to "Alien Hand Syndrome."

Just when you thought consciousness couldn't get any weirder...

A new study on Permian-era sediments suggests giant coal fires may have contributed to the mass extinction that killed off as much as 96% of Earth's life forms. For once, the article even details a few of the predictions the theory makes, which means (funds pending) a definitive answer may actually be on the way.

Scientists think a swelling magma reservoir four to six miles (seven to ten kilometers) below the surface is driving the uplift. Fortunately, the surge doesn't seem to herald an imminent catastrophe, Smith said.

Read entire article here.

With video!

It seems triceratops might actually not be triceratops. Scientists are, of course, arguing about it, but that is their job after all. Fortunately, the obscure rules that dictate species names mean the name won't be going away any time soon.

Well, not exactly space, more like Tennessee. They literally found a previously unknown giant sort of crayfish hiding out under a rock in a river in the ol' Vol state. Unfortunately they don't go into enough detail to define how big "giant" is when talking about crawdads.

Scientists have announced the discovery of an exotic state in an "unconventional superconductor" The article is chock-full of head-'asplodey goodness, but I think the basic point is it may point the way toward a kind of digital memory which can be used by quantum computers. Hey, it's 6:30. I'm not scheduled to actually start thinking for at least another hour.

A team of scientists from Japan, Russia and the United States hopes to clone a mammoth, a symbol of Earth’s ice age that ended 12,000 years ago, according to a report in Japan’s Yomiuri Shimbun. The researchers say they hope to produce a baby mammoth within six years.

Ok, my question is this. WHY would you clone something just to keep it secret so the world cannot see?

Scientists have announced the discovery that a certain type of crow will sometimes use tools to explore its environment. Go for the interesting discussion. Stay for the "wtf?!? What is that? Lemme poke it. WTF?!?!" crow videos.

A group of scientists have released a study which claims Neanderthal faces did not actually have any special adaptations to the cold. This was an absolute given when I was an undergrad. If it really were this obvious, you'd think someone would've noticed before now.

Not the CRICKETS!

Color me unsurprised: Scientists are noting the frenzy over "mass bird death" is less about birds and more about selling newspapers. Or, you know, online ads, that sort of thing. Our media? Fueling hysteria? Say it ain't so!

Because, wait for it... it's raining, rrm... magma! It seems the weird difference between earth rocks and moon rocks can be explained by the way certain elements precipitated out of the Earth's atmosphere after the collision with a Mars-sized body which caused the moon's formation.

Russian scientists are about to sample water from a lake that has been completely cut off from the rest of the planet for 15 million years. It's thought that any critters living in the hyper-oxygenated water will provide insight into metabolic processes, as well as provide information on what Enceladus and Europa, which are thought to have a similar environment, are like.

Scientists have worked out new manufacturing techniques that promise smart clothing that can survive a washing machine. Not only that, it seems the material may also be useful as a stealth coating. That's right, the next fighter the air force buys may actually be wearing a sweater.

A group of scientists has announced significant progress in the discovery of the cause of male pattern baldness. Ok, all those women in the peanut gallery who just rolled their eyes? It may very well have implications for female baldness as well. The wigs we save may be yours, too!

It looks like our ancestors had to deal with more than one kind of sabretooth cat. And by "ancestor" I mean, "so far back it may have lived before the human/chimp split." Nice kitty!

She broke her tibia and fibula in both legs after she was hit by a truck. It happened while she was at the BYU-Utah game on Thanksgiving weekend. She was leaving the tailgating lot where a lot of people were yelling and shoving as they were leaving the stadium. She said was forced off the sidewalk, right into the path of a truck.

The power of the human body.

Technology Review's "best idea of 2010" is that gravity is an emergent phenomena generated by quantum mechanics. I think what they're saying is that by treating gravity as something that springs out of quantum interactions, a number models far simpler than those floating around today can be built of what makes the universe tick. Simpler models tend to mean cheaper experiments to prove them, so maybe we've finally found a new way forward toward the good ol' GUT.

Sir Paul Mellars, a prehistory expert at Cambridge University, said that the find is "important," but that it was premature to say the remains are from modern humans. He said the teeth are more likely from ancient relatives of Homo sapiens, such as the Neanderthals or their ancestors, which are thought to have left Africa hundreds of thousands of years ago.

Read the entire article here.

Recent observations that the Earth's magnetic north pole has begun moving around much faster than before have triggered a revision in the ideas of just what, exactly, makes that happen. Seems like it might be related to the same forces that generate a whirlpool in a bathtub drain. I think. At any rate, I'm sure the Bush administration will (still) get blamed for it somehow.

Scientists have announced the discovery of a "missing link" cattle species, with a fossil find some two million years old. Exactly how the scientists determined humans had anything to do with eating the beast is a little unclear from the article, but if nothing else it does prove that we were all wandering around the same area at the same time.

Scientists have announced the discovery of a new, genetically distinct, line of ancient humans. DNA testing reveals this population shared a common ancestor with Neanderthals, and interbred with early modern humans who'd taken up residence in the same area.

Now that the future has decided to stop monkeying with the LHC, it's finally starting to refute some theories. Ellen will, of course, be vaguely disappointed that they haven't managed to create any black holes yet, but that's not going to stop them from trying!

After bouncing around various private collections for more than two hundred years, the head of the French king Henry IV has been found and identified. One of the things that still bugs me about the royal burials at St. Denis is how they were all piled into a few big boxes after the lunacy of the revolution because identifying the separate skeletons would be "impossible." Probably in the 19th century, yes, but even before modern DNA testing it has long been possible to reassemble disarticulated skeletons using modern osteological techniques. All they'd need to do was try. Politics. Bah.

Everyone's favorite deep water submersible (and really, who doesn't have a favorite deep water submersible?) is getting an extensive refit which should allow it to explore more than 90% of the ocean's depths. Alvin's been around a long time, and has done some spectacular science. It's nice to hear it'll be around a good while more. I do, however, find it a little bit strange that the article completely failed to mention the sub is actually owned by the Navy.

Scientists have speculated for years that the Siberian Traps, a featured formed by a massive volcanic event 250 million years ago, may have been involved in the Permian extinction, but nobody's worked out exactly how. Now a group of scientists are proposing exactly that. Having the lava pass through salt-rich rock, and thereby creating a much more poisonous event, would neatly explain why this eruption was so disruptive when other similar events, like the one which formed the Deccan Traps area, were not.

NASA scientists have confirmed the existence of a gigantic lake in what is now the middle of the Sahara. I've read in a few places that earlier radar mapping missions (STS-2 and -41G) were not really the pure science they were advertised as, but instead were subtle cold war demonstrations meant to prove we had the means to detect silos no matter how well the Soviets hid them. Dunno if that's true, but it makes for a neat story.

"Instead of briefly grabbing for testing or tasting purposes, this female apparently considers human swimmers as a potential food source," she said.

Oh calm down...it's about a shark.

Careful! There are many squee moments!!!

A group of scientists are proposing (yet another) theory that explains dark matter and why the whole universe wasn't annihilated by anitparticles billions of years ago. This time they're proposing a super-dense particle that, due to its makeup, prefers to decay in a unique, asymmetrical way that would naturally lead to the universe we see now. Me, I think it sounds pretty convenient, but they do claim there are existing experiments which should be able to disprove the idea. Hey, why not?

I guess the internet really has sped even the most staid of discussions up. This time, instead of it taking months or even years for a tennis match of scientists to complete a volley, it only takes a few days. Even I thought the description of NASA scientists' discovery of an exotic type of bacteria sounded a little weird. Does it mean that they're wrong, or even that the science is bad? Only time will tell.

Robert H. gets the coveted Albigensian no-prize for bringing us evidence that the media frenzy about climate change has a long and rich history. Yes, yes, "This is a Crisis! You are a Dangerous, Greedy, Immoral, Evil, Stupid, Naive, Misguided Person! Denier! Apostate! Here's your yurt, we're off to Cancun!" Must always remember to post up those cautions. Don't want the plebes to get the wrong idea.

Weatherman Joe Bastardi (no, really, that's his name. Stop giggling! I said stop it!) is predicting lots of snow for lots of people this Christmas season. And yes, the only real point to this is to poke fun at this guy's name.

Robert H. gets a no-prize guaranteed to send die-hard greens into an apoplectic frenzy for bringing us news that we may all in fact be in the grip of a "mini ice age." Yes, I understand it's all about climate change and yes, "one-paper-does-not-make-a-trend-who-is-this-maniac-you-dangerous-denier-type-person!!!" The point is when regular folks like me see temperature trending consistently up, that's worrying. When we see the temperature trending up and down, well, that's just weather.

Along the warmth of the coast, this long, spindly-legged lizard deposits its eggs where they can fend for themselves. If a predator doesn't get them, they'll hatch into a whole new generation of yellow-bellied skinks. Up in the mountains, the eggs would have a rougher time of it. The temperature at higher altitudes drops, and the skink eggs don't have the same chance as their coastal siblings do. The yellow-bellied skink has found a solution to that; it disposes with eggs entirely and carries its young internally until it can give birth to them.

Is it a snake or a lizard!

Or...BOTH!

Researchers at Warwick University testing the Naga Viper found that it measures 1,359,000 on the Scoville scale, which rates heat by tracking the presence of a chemical compound. In comparison, most varieties of jalapeño peppers measure in the 2,500 to 5,000 range -- milder than the Naga Viper by a factor of 270.

Habanero take a step, no wait, several steps down from super hot!

Mark gets a no-prize that'll knock Klingons off the starboard bow for bringing us news of the discovery of a critter that might not even be based on the same chemistry we are. Discovered in a godforsaken lake somewhere in eastern Cali no less. When I read the article, it's also possible this just happens to be a bacteria you can't kill with a stick. It'll take a few more experiments, a lot more grant money, and a slow-motion journal-based flame fest to be sure. Hey, that's science!

The world's first successfully cloned animal has been cloned once again. This time there are four "Dollies," and instead of needing hundreds of sheep embryos to produce a single clone, they only needed to use five. Me, I can't believe it's been fourteen years since the original Dollie was born.

The earth never ceases to amaze me.

Icelandic photographer Ragnar Sigurdsson captured the spectacular scenes as he documented the progress of the eruption - even bravely flying over the bubbling crater.

Check out the rest of the photos here.

Scientists have finally confirmed reports that not only can some squid species jump out of the water, they can actually fly. Every time you think you've seen everything nature can cook up, out pops another dish of surprise.

The mummy, housed at Saffron Walden Museum in Essex, was shrouded in mystery after it was discovered in a private collection in 1878.

However, studies last year discovered it was wrapped in clothing adorned in feminine symbols, wearing girl’s breast cones and a female bracelet.

Ground-breaking CT scans carried out at Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge, have finally solved the mystery revealing the mummy is a boy dressed in girl’s clothing.

And cue Zahi Hawas...

Science is amazing!

How artificial eyes are made.

By using what seems to be a sophisticated electronic one-way valve, scientists have for the first time converted information directly into energy. The experiment proves a hypothesis proposed some 150 years ago by physicist James Clerk Maxwell that the second law of thermodynamics can be reversed without using energy.

As with most of these sorts of pure science... thingies... I don't completely understand what anyone is talking about, but they are all excited so I'll take their word for it that it's cool. Or hot, as the case may be.

At the age of 12, an intrepid Wernher von Braun loaded his toy wagon with some firecrackers and shot off across a crowded German street. It was a sign of things to come. The brains behind Hitler's V-2 rocket program arrived in the United States as a prisoner of war and went on to be its champion of space and lunar exploration. While putting people on the moon, von Braun also mastered scuba diving and philosophy.

Meet the other scientists.

It seems that, after eight years of experiments, a scientist discovered the evidence parapsychologists have been claiming they had for years. By taking common psychology tests and simply reversing the order in which they're taken, Daryl Bem of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York seems to have produced repeatable evidence we are influenced by events before they happen. At least one attempt to duplicate the results have failed, but (if I'm reading the article correctly), this attempt used a different protocol. Regardless, this isn't someone bending spoons. The experiment is well-described and presumably makes even more testable predictions.

No, I don't know what it ultimately means, either, but it sure seems cool!

By using nanoparticles of gold, scientists have figured out how to make trees glow in the dark. The article is big on "ooh! ahh! pretty!" but short on the details that would convince me, at least, that this might be a viable substitute for street lights. I mean, what happens when the leaves fall off, and are eaten by a critter? Just how bright is it, anyway?

A consortium of doctors and engineers are working together to create mobile phone kits that will diagnose STDs privately and discreetly. Yep, that's right, you pee on your phone and it'll tell you if you've got the clap. A more effective way of preventing someone from sharing said phone, I literally cannot imagine.

Scientists have announced the development of a technique that turns human skin cells directly into blood. Not just the red cells, but several other types which make up this vital substance. What's not exactly clear is just how much blood is made in a particular batch.

So, does the internal combustion concept really have depths left to chart? This guy thinks so. As I first read the description, I thought, "two stroke flat four, dur." Then I watched the video, and things got much more interesting. Two pistons in the same cylinder, which complete a power stroke by pushing toward each other? I'll bet you a nickle the idea was worked out a hundred years ago, but material science couldn't come up with the alloys to make it practical. We've come a long way with material science, donchaknow?

Scientists have announced the creation of a (very) small-scale human liver. They've got a long way to go before they can grow a whole liver from scratch, but they're making progress.

Remember that "time traveler caught on silent film" segment? The one with the lady on the cellphone wandering around in a Chaplain film? Two words: hearing aid. Ah, well. It was fun to think about, that's for sure.

Scientists have announced the discovery of human remains which push back the date our ancestors were thought to have populated Asia by fifty thousand years. The find is, of course, controversial, but assuming all is well it poses interesting questions in the how and why of humanity's great eastward migration.

Scientists at Fermilab are building a "laser holometer" to find out if our 3-D universe really IS a 3-D universe. Boy, I bet you're going to feel sheepish about buying that 3-D TV if it turns out the whole dimension is a lie. Me, I'd blame Karl Rove.

Scientists have announced the development of a silkworm that spins a kind of spider silk. The resulting fabric is much stronger than normal silk, but not as strong as pure spider silk. However, the group says it's only started experimenting, and are confident the much stronger pure spider silk is not far off.

At Livermore California, scientists are trying to create stars. Even better, they're using frikkin lasers! Where large research grants go, cool science tech is sure to follow.

Scientists have announced the discovery of the earliest known example of a hominid that had to have received help from others to survive. This all may seem screamingly obvious to everyone, but physical anthropology has been burned numerous times by "obvious" conclusions that were eventually overturned when someone looked at the evidence. Nowadays if they don't find direct, incontrovertible evidence, they won't make the call, and even if they do the guys on the other sideline throw about a dozen red flags down for another replay. It's sort of like really, really slow-motion football that way.

Via Instapundit.

It seems that, with the help of the Army, the cause of the well-publicized domestic honey bee collapse has finally been found. Turns out it's a combination of a virus and a fungus, neither of which has the ability to destroy a colony on its own. Just why this happens is still unclear, but now that the cause is known it's hoped a cure will be soon to follow.

By using an "artificial event horizon," scientists seem to have found the first direct evidence for Hawking radiation. As with most really weird scientific experiments, the result is open to interpretation, not all of which confirm that black holes do in fact radiate energy.

Engineers at Toshiba have unveiled a 3D television which does not require glasses to work. Bonus: it also can transform "normal" broadcasts into 3D. New TV tech being what it is, prices start high... the equivalent of about $1500 in yen for a 12" screen. TV tech in general being what it is, I'd expect the price to drop steadily if it meets market success.

Ok, so it turns out Contador's failed drug test involved a substance that increases a person's metabolic rate, among other things. It's also just possible he really didn't take it intentionally. Me, I remember Floyd Landis was about as sincere as he could be professing his innocence, and look how that turned out.

"As with the origins of so many great scientific discoveries, this story begins with a serendipitous chain of events. 'Our interest in the psychological properties of semen arose as a by-product of an initial interest in menstrual synchrony...'" Nah-ah-ah! It's in Scientific American. Respectable, even!

What's that? Well, of course we're staying classy. You don't have to keep saying it.

By using clocks that pretty much define "hyper-accurate", scientists have demonstrated relativistic effects on Newton-level scales. I'm old enough to remember when many people thought Einstein's theory was too wacky to actually be true, mostly of the fundamentalist Christian bent. I wonder if they realize the GPS unit that guides them to their (now) grand-kid's birthday party at the local Chucky's wouldn't work at all if it weren't for Einstein's relativity theories?

Scientists have announced, to the undoubted delight of headline writers everywhere, the discovery of the "horniest" dinosaur ever. This cousin of the more familiar triceratops had fifteen well-developed horns on its six foot long head. As usual, the likely purpose was to impress chicks.

Scientists working with the Large Hadron Collider think they may have seen evidence of a kind of matter present at the beginning of the universe. The implications for various cosmological theories are large, albeit largely incomprehensible to me. Giant machine smash tiny things, uhnk!

It's looking like the first big 21st century "game changer" is turning out to be 3-D printers. I'll be happy when someone starts ginning up Milano spares for me. I never thought to be so ambitious as to try to print out a whole freaking house.

Scientists have announced a for-real, working tractor beam. Sure, it only moves tiny masses small distances, but hey, ya gotta start somewhere! Even with such modest capabilities, the scientists can imagine practical uses for the device, like atmospheric sampling or the manipulation of hazardous microbes.

Construction on the first full-scale fusion reactor has begun. Weirdly, the article does not mention what the scheduled completion date is. I think that may not be an accident, considering that fusion power has been "fifty years away" for a least the past thirty.

It seems genetic science has progressed to the point hybrid studies are more accurate, and lead to sometimes surprising results. It seems not all cross-species offspring are sterile, and some prove quite successful indeed.

Next up: cell phones powered by conversation. Now that I think about it, if Ron and I can figure out the right sort of harness, we'll likely be able to power our houses with the energy Ellen and Amber generate every day. Maybe we'll be able to sell it back to the power company!

Scientists have had to come up with a new name to describe a super-storm which swept across Kansas last year. I wish they would've provided a pronunciation guide for "super derecho." I don't need to add another word to my "most likely to mispronounce" list.

For just $150, you can take a positive step toward protecting yourself from the upcoming food supply crisis. Since I don't actually believe there is an upcoming food supply crisis, and eating something that grew in my pee which at best tastes like seaweed is sort of the opposite of what I consider appetizing, I'll give it a pass. But I'll be cheering anyone else who takes the (green, gooey) plunge.

It seems that the Hubble's replacement will be sophisticated enough to detect volcanoes and oceans on planets light-years away. At this rate, we'll be able to read the menu on the outside of McAndromedas before Olivia's out of college. I wonder if they'll have a McRib sandwich, too?

Scientists have announced the discovery of a vitamin concoction which significantly slows the mental impairment widely seen as a precursor to Alzheimer's. By using very large doses of three vitamin B compounds, the treatment helps neutralize homocysteine,which is thought to play a significant role in the progress of the disease. Best of all, it's cheap!

Hot on the heels of the revelation of one new solar panel technology, comes yet another debut, this time using jellyfish goo at its core. Could solar power finally be on the verge of fulfilling the promises made for it for decades? Only time will tell.

It would seem that not only is conventional "study" wisdom wrong, it's been wrong for at least twenty years. I sort of stumbled upon the fact that studying in different places and at different times yielded better results, back in college. Then again, I was so desperate to graduate and quite obviously outclassed I grasped firmly to every straw I could find. This will definitely inform how we help Olivia do her homework.

Scientists have announced progress in electronically translating brain waves into words. The main innovation is the use of electrodes which are placed on the surface of the brain, avoiding the injury risks involved with implantation. Right now the device isn't particularly accurate, but does prove the concept is valid. It's hoped that with further development such a device could be used to liberate fully conscious people "locked in" by various diseases and injuries.

Scientists have announced the creation of a photovoltaic compound which will tear itself down, and build itself back up, based on the presence of a drop of a soap-like substance. Self-assembly of a system which turns light into energy was mastered by plants billions of years ago, but has been out of the reach of us humans, until now. The predicted efficiency is claimed to be twice that of existing solar panels, although no mention is made of the cost.

Scientists have discovered that the brains of locusts and roaches contain powerful substances that stop so-called "microbial superbugs" in their tracks. At this stage, nobody's sure exactly what those substances might be, but since the world is not suffering a shortage of either critter, I'd expect further research is on the way.

String theory seems to finally have found a practical test. It's been making promises for years, but testing those promises required science so big it made the Large Hadron Collider look like a cheese wheel. No, it won't prove everyone's favorite multi-dimensional cosmology, but it could disprove it, and in science the latter is just as useful as the former.

Scientists have announced the development of a new way of making non-volatile computer memory. By using nanowires made of silicon, the technique allows a density five times greater than current technology, at (presumably) a lower price. Solid state and it "remembers" even with the power off. A good thing!

It looks like otzi, the famous "ice man," may not have been murdered after all. I'm a little suspicious it's taken this long for someone to examine the area the ice man was found in as an archeology site, and I know from the documentaries I've seen that the site was far from pristine. Still, it makes for an interesting discussion.

By examining videos of hanging deaths both accidental and intentional, scientists think they have found both the mechanism that causes death, and aspects of that death which could provide important evidence criminal cases. I've seen one or two of these things myself over the years, and I definitely say they are incredibly sad. It's nice to know some small good may come from such a terrible thing.

According to the latest research, the final proof that if there is a universal grammar of numbers in which all facets of their behaviour can be expressed, it lies beyond our ken has been discovered. Somehow, though, I doubt "Peano's rules have been debunked by Gödel's incompleteness theorems and boolean relation theory," would've gotten me very far when I brought home a D in math, back in the day.

Update: Link fixed!

The effort to turn a chicken into a dinosaur continues to progress. We first heard about this the last time Horner was in a documentary, say two years ago. It's interesting to see they haven't hit any dead ends with the project yet. That said, they also still just have a bunch of chickens. Something to keep an eye on, for sure.

Scientists have announced the discovery of fossils which push the dawn of tool use in hominids back a full million years. That's Australopithecene territory right there, and represents the first conclusive evidence of that species using tools and eating meat. For a long time the conventional wisdom said our body plan got sorted out with the Australopithecene, with intelligence coming only with the rise of Homo (shaddup, Ron). Now that will all have to be re-thought.

Scientists have announced the discovery of a fossil crocodillian so weird, if all you saw was its teeth, you'd call it a mammal. I dunno, a crocodile of any sort limber enough to catch insects and our rat-like ancestors is still a bit intimidating. Fortunately it's long extinct, so Ellen can't have one.

Archeologists have announced the discovery of what may be the remains of John the Baptist. The evidence relies a bit too much on tradition and speculation for my taste, but they've definitely found something. Still, there have been pretty remarkable artifacts preserved in out-of-the-way places. Who knows?

Scientists have discovered what they're calling the sixth largest river in the world. The reason nobody's heard of it until now? It's flowing at the bottom of the Black Sea. Turns out there's a salinity gradient (I think that's what it's called anyway) that flows and meanders just like a surface river. The picture featured even seems to show banks on its "shore."

Now, it did take, what, twenty five years, but we now have a ground-based telescope publicly claiming to have exceeded what Hubble can do. I say "publicly," because I distinctly remember reading similar, and quite believable, claims when Mauna Kea got its first dynamic optics back in the early 90s. So any time you feel nostalgic about that giant wrapping paper tube twirling around, just keep in mind the danged thing is that old, and the next one will be a massive improvement.

Scientists have figured out how to use an exotic form of carbon to simulate very powerful electromagnetic fields. I think. There was stuff in there about electrons and chicken wire, I do know that. That's gotta be good for something, eh?

Scientists are using new imaging techniques to come up with better theories of how Alzheimer's works. Which, of course, is likely to lead the way toward effective treatments. There's even some indication it may ultimately be an autoimmune disorder.

It seems that the on-again, off-again idea that an impact caused the extinction of Pleistocene megafauna is off again. I'm always suspicious when a group of scientists claim they have found The Answer.

Scientists have discovered evidence of a dinosaur hunting small mammals. The fossil preserves both the burrows the mammals were living in, and the claw marks of the dinosaur that (presumably) dug them out.

Now that the human genome is well and truly mapped, scientists are discovering lots of evidence for very recent evolution in our species. No wonder Chinese people have a reputation for drinking everyone else under the table!

It seems that, with nuclear power anyway, smaller may just very well be better. All honest players admit the only viable alternative to hydrocarbon energy is nuclear, and it's going to be that way for a very long time. Any development toward making it safer, cheaper, or easier to use is a net plus in my book.

Ok, and in the, "I'll take your word for it, and no, I don't need the details of how you found that out" file, we have The Electrical Characteristics of Three Human Penises. Or should that be "Peni?" Yes, yes, ladies, I get it, ain't got nothing on what you have to go through on your yearly. That said, last I heard, electricity wasn't directly involved in your garden variety pelvic exam...

Exposure to the antidepressant fluoxetine causes shrimp to radically alter their behavior. While normal shrimp are more likely to avoid swimming towards light because it's often associated with prey like birds or fishermen, those exposed to fluoxetine become five times more likely to swim towards light than away from it. That change in behavior places them in harm's way, and if enough shrimp are exposed to the antidepressant the entire population could be at risk.

So much for shrimp cocktail.

By using Arctic bacteria, scientists have come up with vaccines which trigger an immune reaction, but don't survive long enough to do harm in a warm mammal body. Well, a warm mouse body, at any rate. Mice are not people, but this approach seems general enough to perhaps work on just about any of us glorified moles.

Scientists have discovered whales do exactly the same thing we do when background noise makes it hard for someone else to hear you. Way to keep those grant dollars rolling in there, son.

Scientists have announced the discovery of a material which could some day become the heart of a "battery of the future." By subjecting a common crystal mineral normally used to etch silicon conductors to gigantic pressures, they created a new substance which chemically stored all that energy in the bonds used to create it.

Me, I see two problems: 1) diamond anvils don't sound cheep, and the process required to produce the stuff doesn't sound very fast, and 2) getting energy out of something this power-dense without it getting all explode-y is going to be a neat trick. Still, it does seem to have potential.

Scientists have announced the discovery of what is likely the oldest fossil evidence of multicellular life on Earth yet found. A "cookie-shape" sounds funny, until you realize it's two billion years old. For those of you not keeping score, that is a full 1.5 billion years before life forms you and I would recognize as a critter showed up. Our ancestor around that time? Yeah, you guessed it. Glorified worm.

Scientists have discovered the sperm whale's really, really nasty great-grandfather. I'm struck by how similar the teeth look to its presumed, and as I recall contemporary, immediate rival, the megalodon. Which means it ate more or less the same thing. Which means, yeah, not a great candidate for SeaWorld right there, nope.

The "sterile" neutrino, once dismissed out of hand as a good idea that just didn't pan out, may have some life left in it yet. When the predicted numbers are off by even the smallest amount, usually there's a new particle hiding out in the woodpile. No, I'm not completely sure what good this will do you and me, but so far no matter how hard physicists try, practical applications always seem to be found for even the most obscure discoveries.

Scientists have announced the discovery of a new A. afarensis fossil, and the "big man" seems to have a lot to say. Any post-cranial fossils from any hominid will always be a big deal, because, since our ancestors were mostly hunted by bone-crunching leopards and hyenas, by far the most common fossils we find are skulls (because the head has an annoying tendency to roll away) and the teeth inside them. That the fossil represents an adult male of the same species as the famous Lucy is an added, and valuable, bonus.

A new experiment at Fermilab has revealed yet another chink in the Standard Model's armor. I'd try to explain it, but every time I take a shot at that I feel like a cave man trying to explain an Alfa Romeo to his friends, "Unkh. Shiny thing goes fast. Shiny thing falls apart. Is important. Unkh."

It seems that your attitude toward casual sex is a strong predictor of your attitude toward recreational drugs. I'm not completely convinced. Then again, being a libertarian, I don't really care what consenting adults do behind closed doors. Stay out of trouble, pay your taxes, keep off my lawn, and we're all good.

Scientists have discovered methods in quantum mechanics that break the equivalence principle. That being, according to Einstein (via the article), "the gravitational force we experience on Earth is identical to the force we would experience were we sitting in a spaceship accelerating at 1g." Turns out that with a clever combination of gravitational and electromagnetic boxes and oscillators, well, it ain't so.

No, I'm not sure what to make of it either, but usually when these propeller-heads come up with something really weird, eventually someone else figures out how to make a neat gadget using it. [Whisper]NEAT GADGETS.[/Whisper]

A magnitude 5.7 earthquake erupted five miles east-southeast of the desert town of Ocotillo at 9:26 p.m. Monday, causing sharp shaking throughout San Diego County and beyond, the U.S. Geological Survey says. The quake, an aftershock to the 7.2 Easter Sunday quake near Mexicali, briefly caused a delay in the game between the San Diego Padres and Toronto Blue Jays at Petco Park in downtown San Diego.

Scientists are reporting the discovery of two hundred-million year-old mammal hairs trapped in amber. This is the first time scientists have been able to examine the structure in 3D. Turns out it has changed surprisingly little over such a very long time. Walking with dinosaurs, shedding on the landscape.

Scientists have discovered that the hormonal counter-weight to the "trust everything" oxytocin turns out to be that bugaboo of all radical feminists, testosterone. Bonus: it seems to help the very sex who's radicals claim it victimizes.

The first gray whale known to have ever visited the Mediterranean sea has been sighted again. According to the article, scientists are trying to decide if this means the species has re-colonized the Atlantic after an approximately three century absence, or if this individual has managed to survive the longest known migration in history. I think it's one of two things: if the whale is male, it's obvious he never stopped to ask for directions. If female, well, hey, the Rivera won't shop itself, donchaknow?

British scientists have announced the discovery of the largest-known gladiator grave yard in the UK. The article includes the skeletal remains of someone who seems to have gotten a really close shave.

Even if it doesn't prove to actually be a bunch of gladiators, the find is still significant because Roman custom was to normally cremate their dead. Skeletal remains are rare, and can reveal a great deal about how people lived.

Scientists have found a massive cache of fossils and tools which indicate our ancestors were eating various kinds of meat at least 2 million years ago. As per usual, since they didn't find a hominid skeleton with a tool in one hand and a croc leg in the other, lying on top of the mound, they're not able to say exactly who was doing the butchering. More reasonable people will likely draw the conclusion this was Homo habilis's doing.

BBCnews is carrying this special report on the hunt for a mammal which likely hasn't changed all that much in 75 million years. For those of you keeping score at home, that means this critter, or one very much like it, was dodging for-real dinosaurs, back in the day. From such humble beginnings...

A new scientific paper is claiming that early hunter-gathers may have been responsible for a cooling episode known as the "Younger Dryas event". The thinking goes that once human hunter-gatherers caused the extinction of North American megafauna like mammoths and woolly rhinos, the resulting drop in atmospheric methane triggered the shift. Sharp readers will note the author appears to have used one very controversial idea (that humans were the sole cause of megafauna extinction) to prop up a new controversial idea about climate change. This makes my, "smells like political spirit" detector go all itchy around the corners. Then again, I haven't showered yet, so it could just be, you know, fleas or something.

Scientists in India are claiming to have found strong evidence that cell phones are the root cause of the crashing honeybee populations in Europe and North America. The study seems to have been done correctly, and also appears repeatable enough, so further research should go a long way toward confirming or denying the hypothesis.

"There is the potential for widespread outbreaks this summer," Brown said. "We could see grasshopper levels several times of what you would see in a normal year."

I must be very behind in the grasshopper news. The last time I read something about this was in one of the Laura Ingalls books.

Yuck.

By using an unlikely combination of radiometric dating techniques, scientists may have finally unlocked the mysteries that start, and stop, Earth's ice ages. Bonus: the Atlantic overturning circulation - the great ocean current that carries heat north, then sinks and flows back along the bottom of the ocean - that most recent of go-to bugaboos climate chicken-littles enjoy waving in everyone's faces, plays a primary role in ending an ice age, not causing it.

Archeologists have announced the discovery of more than 50 intact tombs in Egypt. Unlike most recent Egyptian tomb discoveries, these aren't "just" a bunch of Roman-era wannabes, but are the real deal, one of which dates back to before the pyramids.

Blockquote>"This mythical story began around the time of Aristotle that the argonaut female actually lived in the shell and raised those webs as sails as she sailed across the ocean," explained Dr Finn. "

With picture goodness!

BBC News: Based on early work, University of North Carolina experts believe a blast of ultrasound to the testes can safely stop sperm production for six months. Yeah, buddy, sounds good. You go first.

The next-gen airborne laser program seems to be targeting the B-1 platform as its carrying vehicle. If memory serves, it's when you get beyond 100kw that lasers start getting useful as a weapon.

So, what happens when a reporter is startled by a potentially sensational claim buried in a scientific article? Why, he takes that boring note about how the male members of a troupe of chimps sometimes use the sound of crinkling leaves to get a female's attention and slaps a "chimps use sex toys" headline on it. We're in the best of hands...

In a new study, scientists are claiming that 1-3% of Asian and European genes are Neandertal. Exactly how DNA evidence can be gleaned from fossil examination isn't clear to me, but that could be caused by Ellen rushing us all out the door early today. Further examination will follow later...

Scientists seem to be spotting a new, exotic kind of matter. I think. Quantum mechanics makes my head hurt. Or does it?

Scientists have found evidence of the earliest known plumbing system in the New World. It appears the Maya were building pressurized water systems well over a thousand years before the Spaniards arrived.

"No, no, sir, I'm not breaking the seal, I'm recharging the battery."

Every once in awhile a physicist takes a crack at explaining quantum physics, but since even the scientists still aren't sure how it ticks, they fail. That said, this guy fails in a pretty informative way. The important thing to remember is this stuff isn't just a physicist trying to be glib on TV... according to every experiment anyone's managed to cook up, this really is how it all works. If it wasn't, the experiments would fail. They don't.

The FDA has approved the first vaccine for fighting cancer. Before all the guys line up outside the clinic, it should be pointed out this is a treatment meant for use after the cancer has been diagnosed. It also "only" extends life a few months, but I imagine when you're living every day like it was your last a few more week's worth of them would seem like a big bonus. And, hey, they gotta start somewhere.

Scientists have discovered new specimens of an earthworm species thought to have gone extinct. Turns out the giant, spitting, flower-scented earthworm isn't any of those things. But it is rare.

A new species of "micro moth" has been officially recognized, and lives nowhere outside the UK. You'd think with a country full of English busy-bodies it would've been spotted before now. Nature is full of surprises.

Scientists have found evidence that chocolate consumption is linked to depression. Suddenly a whole raft of female behaviors has a rational explanation!

Australian scientists have come up with a novel idea to stop native species from eating poisonous cane toads: frog flavored sausages. Yep, that's the way the cute critters are supposed to feel when they eat them, too.

Scientists are beginning to do research to see if psychedelic drugs can be useful in chemotherapy treatments. The idea seems to be that the powerful experiences these drugs create are meant to help the patient cope with what they're going through. It sounds an awful lot like some 60s hold-outs are still trying to legitimize their own personal experiments, but what do I know?

Looks like there's a flaw in the cunning plan of invisibility cloaks. Still smells like an engineering problem to me, which just means they need to throw more money at it. That sound you're hearing is the sighs of various junior high principals, who've realized they have awhile yet to worry about cloaked boys sneaking into the girl's locker room.

Scientists have announced the discovery of a compound which seems to completely stop cancer from spreading. History is strewn with drugs that work in mice but don't in humans, so this definitely needs more testing. Still, if nothing else it has opened up a new avenue for research.

Scientists have discovered that a noxious lake of bubbling tar is actually teeming with life. There are many different implications for life on Earth, but it seems the biggest change is in how scientists view the chances of finding life on that famous ball of hydrocarbons, Titan.

Scientists have discovered a long-forgotten monument which may also be the work of the people who built Stonehenge. It seems every time someone decides to dust off a bit of the UK they end up discovering yet another ancient monument. Those people don't throw away anything.

Nature's throwing another monkey wrench into our very carefully constructed view of the universe. Hyper-powerful astronomical objects that refuse to follow predicted rules make baby Jesus cry. The standard model now has so many cracks and fissures you could get a tan from what's shining through, but to-date nobody knows exactly what's making the light.

Scientists have announced the discovery of two nearly-complete hominid skeletons. The two individuals, one a middle aged woman and the other a young boy, apparently fell into a sinkhole and were rapidly buried and fossilized. The finds are the first complete finds to fall between the dates of A. afarensis Lucy and H. erectus Turkhana boy.

Scientists are slowly starting to figure out why a therapy involving high-frequency pulses of weak current works so well on a variety of brain disorders. It also explores the surprising discovery that this therapy is proving effective on a very wide variety of mental illnesses.

Scientists have proved that modern terrestrial clocks can be more accurate than their natural rival, pulsars. The achievement becomes more amazing when I think about just how accurate pulsars really are.

The next element in a table nobody really remembers has been found. Element 117 seems to be proving the hypothesis that, as elements get heavier from here, they will become much more stable. Nobody knows exactly what it'll mean, but I bet it'll be way cool.

Scientists have proven T. Rex ancestors once lived in Australia. The find disproves the theory that tyrannosaurs never lived on the southern continents, but provides no answers for the question why they grew so much larger in the north.

Scientists have announced the first successful clinical trial of nanoparticles as a cancer treatment. The trial was a complete success... the tumors were destroyed with no observable side-effects. The treatment is general-purpose, and has the potential to work effectively on a very wide variety of cancers.

Scientists have announced the discovery of a new human relative, previously unknown but living in the same place as humans and neandertals about 50,000 years ago. While the fossil discovery was that of a single bone, the conclusion is based on DNA analysis. The find has implications beyond that of the fossil itself.

Scientists have published a detailed examination of the brain of a toddler who died some 800 years ago. The nearly perfectly preserved organ contained intact structures all the way down to individual neurons. It's hoped further study will provide more information about the robust nature of the brain and how it works.

Turns out canid ethics put your garden variety leader's to shame. That a pack of wild dogs are roughly as "ethically intelligent" as a pack of wild 4 year-olds is darned interesting. That both put a pack of wild politicians to shame is merely expected. That we put the latter in charge and stick the former in managed care facilities says something quite complex about human society. And not a nice thing.

New evidence seems to indicate Alzheimer's may end up being yet another autoimmune disorder. The evidence is, of course, not totally accepted, and even if it proves true it's not clear if it will lead to any new treatment strategies. Still, anything that demystifies this terrible killer must have some net positive result, donchathink?

Scientists have announced the creation of particles so intensely complex and strange, they can only be termed "really weird." I've had a very cursory review of the math that goes on in high-energy physics land. I'll take their word for it.

Scientists have published a new article claiming conclusive evidence for Earth having a strong magnetic field 3.45 billion years ago. This is about 200 million years earlier than previous evidence seemed to support. It's my understanding there aren't many rocks much older than that, so (in my extremely expert opinion) it's a good bet Earth has had a strong magnetic field for as long as it could have one.

Scientists have announced the creation of an organic superconducting material. This particular material is in no real way superior to existing ceramic materials, but it's hoped that now that it's been proved possible, other organic chemists can suss out higher-temperature combinations.

Scholars recently discovered a long-forgotten English inscription on a wall in England's Salisbury Cathedral, and are now polling the public to see if anyone else wants a crack at deciphering it. Salisbury Cathedral is also, apparently, home to the oldest functioning clock in England, a 14th century device that was removed three hundred years later and then forgotten, until it was discovered in an attic during the 1920s.

In other words, Britain has so much history there's probably still a lot of it stuck up in people's rafters, just waiting for re-discovery.

Scientists have announced the creation of a device that literally prints replacement human body parts. At heart (as it were), it's an inkjet printer that sprays both stem cells and a sugar-based scaffolding for shaping the result. At the very least, I'd think a device like this would give severe burn victims a very real chance of having a normal life again.

By transplanting fetal neurons into the brains of older mice, scientists were able to "re-activate" a brain's ability to rapidly, and significantly, re-wire itself. It's thought that if the mechanisms can be teased out and they prove to work in adults, the findings could open up an entirely new avenue of research for brain therapies.

I don't care how gross it may at first seem, you'll still find this extensive scientific review of all the different ways human pubic hair, well, "stands out" fascinating reading. Well, I did anyway, and we all know how normal I am.

Ok, ok, the laughing is expected. The pointing's a little rude, though.

Scientists have announced a new manufacturing technique which promises to significantly reduce the cost of solar cells. They're not as efficient as current models, but if they're 30% less efficient and cost 90% less to make, well, that's math even a progressive greenie will likely understand.

An incredibly well-preserved temple complex built a full seven thousand years before the pyramids is causing historians and archeologists to reconsider basically all the assumptions surrounding the rise of civilization. The best part is the site has been known for quite some time, but nobody had the guts to take it on, until very recently.

Scientists have now conclusively proven there are hundreds of cold-specialized species living at both poles of the planet. Sounds pretty "durp durp durp," you say? Well, the trick is they're identical but separated by several thousand miles of much warmer ocean. There are a few theories which attempt to explain how that can happen, but none seem to have made it much past the testing stage. Just when you think the planet couldn't get any weirder...

Remember all that buzz about innovative fuel cells and other types of energy production that would one day free us from "the grid"? It seems the first for-real product is here. It's very nice to see an actual, working example of one of these futurist's dreams. You want to know what The Next Big Thing that will drive US wealth, prosperity, and growth looks like? You just saw it. Stick that in your, "ZOMG!!1!! THE CHINESE ARE TAKING OVER!!!" pipe and smoke it.

Scientists have found evidence that hominids may have been making sea crossings much earlier than previously thought. The Australian aborigine crossing has perplexed scientists for as long as people have known it happened 60,000 years ago. Having hard evidence for another crossing twice as old will just confuse things further. Ain't science grand?

The newest tests paint a picture of a pharaoh whose immune system was likely weakened by congenital diseases. His death came from complications from the broken leg — along with a new discovery: severe malaria.

Bring on Zahi Hawass!

A New Zealand scientist is attempting to raise sea squids in captivity, starting with eggs. The ultimate goal is to raise giant squid, although the formidable challenges of the project make it seem such a goal will not be realized soon.

Scientists have recently unlocked the genome of a Greenlander who died 4,000 years ago, and they determined he was probably some sort of native American. You know, Inuit-like. Ya don't say.

Actually, it's more complex than that, since apparently he wasn't related to any of the Inuit we know. I think it's more interesting they're able to afford to sequence such old DNA on an archeological grant. Now that price floor has been broken, all kinds of cool things should start coming to light.

Scientists have discovered the mechanism which allows daughter cells to be created without any age-related damage from the parent cell. Turns out "conveyor belt" proteins once thought to act as a one-way method of getting items from the parent to the daughters is actually a two-way connection which allows those daughter cells to "back flush" damaged proteins into the parent.

Scientists in Belgium have developed a technique which allows them to communicate with otherwise vegetative patients. Anything that allows people to communicate is fine by me!

Scientists have unearthed another T. Rex ancestor in the American southwest. This one seems to be a real transition species between the smaller, earlier varieties with "shallower" snouts, and the later giant-eaters we're all familiar with. Oh, and as a dad who's daughter regularly picks paleontology books out for bedtime stories, I can only say, Bistahieversor sealeyi?!? Guys, it's easy to write those names, but have you ever actually tried to read them out loud? More than once?

Seconded: "The fact that climate engineering is possible and affordable is why I do not expect south Florida, most of Bangladesh, and other large low lying places won't be submerged by melting ice from Greenland and Antarctica." And I also agree we need to be spending an appreciable amount of money on this as well. Others will likely disagree. I'm very interested to find out their reasoning.

Scientists have for the first time confirmed the color of a dinosaur. Everyone knew China held spectacular fossils out in the Gobi. I'm not sure anyone counted on just how spectacular they'd actually end up being.

A set of scientists has announced the amount of entropy in the universe may be as much as thirty times higher than previously thought. The detail of the article makes it seem, to me at least, that they don't really know what such a conclusion might actually, you know, mean. Bah. Dick Cheney's behind it all. I just know it.

Scientists have created a theory which predicts oceans of liquid diamond, complete with solid diamond "bergs" floating in them, may exist on Uranus and Neptune. The evidence comes from two separate lines: the properties discovered when a proper small-scale technique for liquefying diamond were created, and the weirdness found at the magnetic poles of the two planets.

Another company has announced it's "getting serious" about space-based power generation. I seem to recall the Japanese are mulling this over as well. Even ten years ago, all you heard about was talk of concepts. This definitely seems to be a step forward, although I'm not sure just how big of a one it is.

Scientists believe they've found the earliest-known intact skeleton of an English royal. Princess Eadgyth was married to one of Europe's most powerful monarchs in the early 10th century. The body was found in a 17th century monument as part of a research project into Magdeburg Cathedral, located about 90 miles west of Berlin.

It seems one of the more lurid predictions of climate change gloom, well, isn't going to work out after all. So, what you're saying is, reporters took an off-the-cuff remark, exaggerated it for effect, and used it to scare us all? Really? No way...

Scientists have announced that a simple morphine treatment shows promise in treating PTSD. By all accounts I've ever read, morphine is great for treating lots of stress-related problems.

Scientists are reporting on evidence that green tea offers important protection against lung cancer. Of course, not smoking at all is the best strategy, but every little bit helps.

Scientists have discovered that the devastating cancer that's killing off the Tasmanian devil likely came from a different species, and is spread by bites. It's hoped the discoveries will assist in the creation of a vaccine to stop the disease, which otherwise may threaten the iconic animals with extinction in the wild in as little as 25 years.

As with most things that seem stove-bolt simple in real life, measuring friction in a repeatable, neutral way turns out to be damned complicated. Considering my wife trips on level floors and my mom trips over, well, as far as we can tell... air, this is a subject of more than casual interest to me.

Movement of the Earth's magnetic pole has accelerated again. 40 miles a year, for something as big as, you know, the f'ing pole, seems pretty spectacular. I always love it when a natural phenomena has mysterious origins and unknown implications. Watching the MSM try to pin it on whoever they're unhappy with that week is always great sport. Global warming, anyone?

With the press focused on the search for the Higgs boson and the LHC ending the world, the search for the neutralino may end up being the science story of 2010. Confirming or disproving the concept of super-symmetry will definitely be high on the list of "crap we don't understand but physicists rightly think is real important." Unless the world ends.

"This isn't just bizarre voyeurism. Duck penises are a wonderful example of the strange things that happens when sexual conflict shapes the evolution of animal bodies."

With bizarre high-speed film of something that just shouldn't move that fast.

Scientists have discovered what appears to be conclusive evidence for a venomous dinosaur. Just because the critter was turkey-sized doesn't mean it wasn't dangerous to bigger critters. A dozen venomous, clawed turkeys would be enough to ruin anyone's day, donchaknow?

Scientists have recorded the deepest-known underwater volcano eruption. I think it's amazing that the pressure is so high even when flashed to steam the explosions only last a second or two before being collapsed back into water.

It seems Yellowstone's plumbing is a helluva lot larger than previously thought. Not only is the caldera some obscene number of miles across, it's hundreds of miles deep, and has layers scientists publicly admit they don't understand. You can have your damned grizzlies, my next vacation will be in the Bahamas.

An Australian scientist has discovered a species of octopus that uses coconut shells to build itself a shelter. This is said to be the first observed evidence of tool use in an invertebrate. Just as long as those tree-climbing octopus never make an appearance, I'll be fine.

Scientists are figuring out how to make a regular LCD TV respond to gestures you make. That'd certainly relieve the regular rabbit hunt that happens every evening around here when it comes time to track down the remote. Still, it's one thing to think you're being watched, and quite another to know it.

A group of scientists have announced the creation of artificial blood cells just as agile as the real thing. If the substance delivers on its promises, it could lead the way to a whole host of new drug delivery methods and trauma treatments.

Scientists have a new theory which predicts the possibility of an engine powered by the fields found in a quantum vacuum. Includes this bon mot: Of course, nobody is getting a free lunch here. "Although the proposed engine will consume energy for manipulation of the particles, the propulsion will occur without any loss of mass," says [Alex Feigel at the Soreq Nuclear Research Center, a government lab in Yavne Israel]. He even suggests, with masterful understatement, that this might have practical implications. Ya think???

Turns out those Himalayan glaciers that are disappearing at an ever-more-rapid pace well, aren't. I know, I know, the guy practically drips reactionary denial. That said, I'm still going to refuse to beggar my country and others, while allowing other polluters to belch ever more nasty stuff into the air simply because they're "developing", over a catastrophe so fragile an Indian scientist can refute one of its more colorful assertions with ease.

Scientists have developed a new low-toxicity treatment for sickle cell anemia which appears to flat out cure the disease in 9 out of 10 adults. A similar, much more toxic, treatment has been available for children for some time, but the protocol was so nasty it either killed the adults outright or some time later gave them a nasty disease which would do the deed. The headline mentions stem cells, but it doesn't seem to make up a big part of the cure.

It would seem everyone perceives men to be smarter than women. Perception is, of course, quite different from actuality. Unless it's my house, then perception and actuality are dictated by the boss. Which, if you read this site long enough, you will rapidly realize is not me. :)

Scientists are claiming to have created the world's first artificial meat. The first product is described as an extra-tasty sounding "soggy pork," but it's hoped that the product will improve as soon as they figure out how to "exercise" it. Which sounds pretty damned creepy, if you ask me. Then again, if they really can make it as tasty as the real thing, and get the price point close, it wouldn't bother me at all to at least give it a try.

Scientists are claiming to have solved the mystery of the hammerhead shark's weird head. Turns out it provides significant advantages in binocular vision, as well as a widened field of view.

Israeli scientists have discovered that electro-shock therapy makes for an effective treatment for erectile dysfunction. It seems very low-level electric shocks stimulate the growth of blood vessels in the treated area, which effectively treats the most common cause of ED.

Researchers in Norway have announced the opening of the world's first osmotic power plant. The plant works by using special membranes and the salt gradients between sea and fresh water. The current plant is meant for the validation of various ideas, models, and materials. A production plant will, presumably, follow if the tests are a success.

Latest attempt at a new theory of gravity: cut space away from time. They're talking about "way-way-way-early universe" time and temperature here. The math is (obviously) beyond me, but other scientists seem to think the idea has merit. As a bonus, the theory could help do away with the whole concept of dark matter.

Scientists have reported the discovery of new and UNN-YOO-ZHYOO-ALL fossil crocodile species. Bonus: "I has a scientist nom" picture.

Bah, I don't think these 10 facts are weird, I think they're cool. Science is fun!

A pharmaceutical's effort at creating a nicotine vaccine has entered (what I understand to be) its final set of trials. Everything I've ever read says smoking is by far one of the worst things people do to themselves, so anything that helps them quit seems fine by me.

A National Institutes of Health study from November 2007 found that in youth with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, the brain matures in a normal pattern. However, it is delayed three years in some regions, on average, compared with youth without the disorder. The researchers used a new image analysis technique that allowed them to pinpoint the thinning and thickening of sites in the cortex of the brains of hundreds of children and teens with and without the disorder. The findings bolster the idea that ADHD results from a delay in the maturation of the cortex.

This has got to be caused by the crap we eat today.

Conventional wisdom has long held ancient peoples ate healthier than we did and died too soon for it to matter anyway, so they never had to worry about things like heart disease and arteriosclerosis. Conventional wisdom is, as usual wrong.

Scientists have created a strain of bacteria which fluoresces in the presence of explosives. The idea is to turn mine hunting from a slow, deadly-dangerous chore into a glorified gardening project. Of course, the military can and will use this just as quickly as an NGO, so perhaps this spells the end of mines as an effective weapon? Couldn't happen to a nicer bunch.

Scientists are beginning to find evidence that cocaine and pepper spray may be a deadly mix. Seems like every time I turn around they've figured out another way cocaine can kill you.

By using special satellite tracking devices attached to the fish via darts, scientists have discovered great white sharks congregate in large numbers quite near the central and north California coasts during certain times of the year. Considering some of their primary prey items are seals and sea lions, which northern California has in abundance, I'm surprised it's taken them this long to make the discovery. Then again, it speaks well for just how small the danger is of humans being attacked by one of these sea-going predators.

It would seem that a mundane gravitational boost has all eyes watching for a predicted error. By very closely examining the velocity of NASA's comet-bound Rosetta probe, scientists hope to test if an explanation of tiny but very significant velocity deviations of other probes is true.

Mark gets a long-lost no-prize for bringing us news of the discovery of one of the first recorded "lost armies" in history. There's nothing that gives an anthropologist like me, trained in the acid sands and clays of the south, quite the geeky buzz as seeing perfectly preserved skeletons just sitting there, out in the open. The fact that they're more than 2000 years old...

Ok, sorry, had to have a lie down there. Anyway...

An MIT graduate student has used game theory to prove that the Nash equilibrium of complex games belong to problems of PPAD complexity, which is a subset of FNP problems which is a subset of NP problems. Somehow this all leads to the obvious conclusion that, if you can generalize a solution to poker, you can discover the Nash equilibrium of the national economy. The only person in the world I know that any of this would make sense to is now nodding his head sagely, and coming up a with a reply that'll just make my head explode a second time.

Ain't science grand?

Scientists have detected antimatter in terrestrial lightning. Apparently the guys who run the Fermi Gamma-ray telescope had enough free time to point the thing Earth, and PoInK!, got a signature for antimatter in a thunderstorm. Just when you thought weather couldn't get any weirder...

By using an innovative technique involving two low-powered lasers, scientists appear to have cracked the fundamental problem of using crystals as an information storage medium. Various groups have been promising "huge-abyte storage the size of a sugar cube" for as long as I can remember, but this time they might mean it.

A new study reveals infants cry with their parents' "accent". By analyzing exactly how an infant cries, scientists found strong correlations between things like pitch and modulation and the language of their parents.

This time the Large Hadron Collider was damaged by (spins the Wheel o' Doom) a baguette dropped by a bird. No, really!

Ok, according to a certain set of scientists, clouds, and the weather that creates them, can be reduced to modest, definable quantities, if you use the right formulas. College friend Bobby will probably nod his head sagely and gasp at how simple it is. I only ask he brings along a broom and a dustpan to sweep up the bits of my head after it 'asploded. I'll take both their words for it.

Like the Fark headline says, it would appear it is possible to frak someone's brains out. At 59, no less. If freaking out the teenager by doing the nasty upstairs with the wife isn't a benefit of middle age, I'm not going.

Scientists are now speculating that the mysterious haze recently discovered at the center of our galaxy may be caused by dark matter. Per usual, this is not without controversy, but the predictions made should help figure out just what, exactly, is going on out there.

By genetically engineering a rat's brain, scientists have created what is perhaps the smartest rat on the planet. At the end of the predictable and rather long aside into Flowers for Algernon comes the news that this particular alteration seems to last well into old age.

Scientists believe they've found that the key to avian navigation lies in their eyes, not their noses. Not much else to say about that.

Turns out bats are kinkier than we previously thought. Giggity!

To close up a rainy night, we have this nice summary of where marine reptile research is nowadays. The first dinosaur book I ever had talked as much about these beasts as it did about their land-based cousins. It seems kind of interesting that such an amazing variety of reptiles existed so long ago, while today the world is dominated by what was then a rare and insignificant sort of reptile primarily designed to live in buried warrens.

A scientist has announced he has found conclusive proof modern humans and Neandertals had sex with each other. Just exactly what his evidence is remains to be seen. The guy says he's managed to sequence the whole Neandertal genome. We'll see...

It seems something as simple as a clean smell promotes moral behavior. I guess that explains why cats are such horrid little creaters, especially whenever they get close to a litter box.

Engineers at IBM are attempting to simulate a for-real brain in silicon. Since it's not Microsoft, The Blue Screen of Death will likely be held at bay. This being IBM, the next version will have a different label stamped on the case and cost 3x as much.

Looks like Chixalub may have a competitor. Giant volcanoes, now it would seem multiple impacts, geeze... God must really have had it in for those critters.

It would appear we have seen the woman of the future, and she's shorter. And heavier. But not by all that much.

Scientists have developed yet another use for stem cells: creating new bone. It's hoped the technique will benefit accident victims, cancer patients, and anyone else who needs bone growth to heal an injury.

By using frikkin lasers, scientists are now able to modify a fruit fly's behavior. Just what it means, I'm not sure. They seem to think it'll give insights into human memory. Now where'd I put that laser pen?

Scientists have discovered new fossils which seems to fill an important gap in pterosaurs evolution. Not surprisingly, the fossils pose nearly as many questions as they answer. But hey, if it didn't work that way science wouldn't be any fun!

Making the rounds: some scientists are speculating the LHC keeps failing because the future doesn't want it to work. Unlike most other kooky theories, this one makes testable predictions. See you in December. If I haven't already, that is.

Scientists have discovered a population of bacteria in Antarctica that appear to have been isolated, and evolving, for the past 1.5 million years. They seem to have been trapped by moving glaciers in a briny lake, and evolved to "eat" sulfur and iron.

Another year, another scientist teasing out the solution to another "mystery" of the Shroud of Turin. What seems to be ignored by all the people who so desperately want this thing to be real is the scientists would have no problem if it was real either. I mean, how cool would that be? Unfortunately that just isn't the case. I imagine it will take the development of some sort of non-destructive dating process before everyone else really accepts this thing came from the thirteenth century.

A private company has now completed full-power testing of an ion engine that may be used to keep the ISS in the proper orbit. Ion engines are orders of magnitude more efficient than are chemical rockets, and may eventually be powerful enough to make huge differences in interplanetary travel times.