Further trials appear to be needed, but it would seem someone has finally come up with an effective treatment for Alzheimer's. It's not known at this time if the drug can reverse damage, but it does seem to halt the progression of the disease. A good thing!

By mapping distinctive geologic features known as "mud pots", scientists have discovered the San Andreas fault extends much further south than previously thought. Fortunately the new extension does not seem to be seismically active. Because we all know California doesn't need a better excuse to fall into the sea, eh?

... and it is strangely mushroom-shaped. It would seem to me that, if this fungus really is using the energy given off by ionizing radiation, it might even end up a candidate for biological shielding? What a strange thought!

A Japanese/Chinese science team has announced the discovery of a nearly-complete juvenile Tarbosaurus. Related to the better-known T. Rex, the fossil itself lacks only the next bones and the end of the tail. It's thought the creature died around the age of 5, making it a valuable addition to the study of dinosaur development.

Mark gets a no-prize in an unexpected place for bringing us news of evidence that a hominid once thought to be exclusive to Asia, well, wasn't. The field is in the late stages of an oversplitting period, so what I learned of as "Homo erectus found in Asia" is currently considered a "separate hominid species found solely in Asia not related to anything else." Will this fossil of an "Asian-only" hominid found in Germany herald the return of the "clumpers?" We'll just have to wait and watch.

I knew it was only a matter of time before someone thought to put a giant squid dissection on-line. Haven't you been expecting one?

So now it would seem we can even chalk up kidney stones to global warming. I always thought the bedrock of science was a firm understanding of cause and effect. It seems I was wrong.

By using only off-the-shelf hardware, Raytheon intends to field and test a working laser defense system by November. This is not like the other laser projects you've heard about lately... this system is solid-state. No nasty chemicals to handle or run out of at an embarrassing time. It's being pitched as a point-defense system against small targets like mortar shells and (presumably) rockets.

If it works as advertised, I would imagine the Israeli government will want to buy them by the dozen. Were it me, I'd then paint a big ROCKET TARGETS: NOT YOURS every 100 yards or so on the Pali side of that wall they're building. Hasta la vista, baby.

By examining their fossils with a scanning electron microscope, it just might be possible to determine the color of feathered dinosaurs. And, it stands to reason, just about anything else with feathers on it. Apparently the technique might even work with marine fossils. Do we even have any fossilized marine critter skin?

Fans of the lobster in all its varied forms should find this collection of rare and unique lobsters worth a look. They still creep me out, but I know I'm in a minority in that respect.

While it's still very unclear just when exactly language evolved in humans, it would seem our ears, at least, were preparing for it for a very long time. The finding is interesting, but definitely seems to have a chicken-or-egg problem in my opinion. Do our ears have a unique sensitivity to maximize our ability to understand language, or are human speech sounds concentrated in that range because that's where our ears are maximally sensitive?

It would appear what is thought of as the oldest bronze statue of Rome's founding she-wolf may be nowhere near as ancient as previously believed. The evidence does seem a bit weak, at least from what's related in the article. You know, in my expert opinion and all that.

Problem: Invasive seaweed species are choking off environmentally important (and tourist-drawing) coral reefs.

Solution: Hoover 'em up.

No, really!

Scientists are reporting the discovery of a fossil tetrapod older than anything found to-date. While the animal probably is not a direct ancestor of every living four-legged creature today, the fossil does provide insight into just how, and perhaps why, a certain group of creatures transitioned from sea to land.

Put that in your "no transitional fossils ever found" pipe and smoke it.

Problem: how do you quantify the amount of methane given off by your typical cow?

Solution: Plastics.

Every time I think the global warming crowd has hopped over the wall of rationality and into the green, well-padded fields of hysteria, they go and jump a little higher.

A group of Brazilian scientists claim to have developed a technique which creates human sperm cells from tooth cells. Their idea is to help infertile men by allowing stem cells created from other, more common cell types to be turned into sperm cells. The research is apparently far from well documented, so it's unclear whether the technique has any real clinical applications.

Smile!

New evidence has been uncovered that seems to date the habitual wearing of shoes back to at least 40,000 years ago. Just what that evidence is, the article doesn't really say. Just about the only thing it can be is some sort of skeletal change in the foot which is characteristic of wearing a shoe.

The metric standards police are taking another crack at re-defining the kilogram. Sometimes I wonder if our inability to unify gravity and quantum physics may be somehow linked to our inability to precisely define a unit of measurement for what gravity most directly affects.

Rrm... ah... sort of thing, eh?

Scientists have discovered a species of chameleon who's life cycle is more like an insect's than a vertebrate's:

Over four years, [Kris Karsten at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, US] and his colleagues marked 400 chameleons and followed seven with radio tags to study their growth patterns, lifespans and behaviour. They discovered that juveniles hatch in synchrony in early November, grow into adults within just seven weeks, mate, and all die without exception by April, just before the harsh dry season settles in.

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

Scientists who have developed an innovative cancer treatment have now moved to human clinical trials. By using a specific sort of white blood cell, called a granulocyte, taken from healthy young mice and transferring them to mice with cancer, researchers were apparently able to affect a 100% cure rate. Whether or not the technique will work with humans is another matter, but previous lab-based tests seem to be promising. A cure in our time? Probably not, but it definitely sounds like a new weapon is about to be brought to bear on the problem.

Scientists have discovered a drug which is already on the market for a completely unrelated treatment may be useful in reversing certain forms of autism. Scientists realized that since rapamycin, a medication doctors prescribe to patients who have had transplants to prevent their bodies from rejecting the new organs, works on the same gene affected by tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC), a rare genetic disorder that causes brain tumors, seizures, learning disabilities, skin lesions and kidney tumors, it might be a useful treatment for that disease. Sure enough, in mice at least, affected subjects exhibited a complete turnaround in less than three days.

A human trial is already underway in England, although no word on the results of that are in the article.

By using a technique called "time reversal", scientists have created devices that can transmit data under water many times faster than existing technologies allow. However, at 20kb per second, I don't think it's going to worry our current broad band providers very much.

Whodathunkit? Free-ranging "organic" pigs end up with lots more nasties inside them than farm-raised pigs given antibiotics. If a more obvious conclusion could've been drawn, I don't know what it might be. Then again, this is the environmentalist movement we're talking about here. It's much more important to stick it to the kulaks and prols every way we can than to let things like facts and reason cloud our judgment, donchaknow?

It would seem the race for biologically-generated oil has another contestant. This is, what, the third company we've linked that's doing this? Suddenly this is changing from a pipe dream to a "matter of time" sort of thing. If it puts Hajji and his Merry Band of Detonating Dervishes that much closer to a bread line, I'm all for it!

British engineers are considering deploying "micro generators" in tube stations. The result? Power big enough to light 6500 light bulbs. Something tells me, however, that the tech is a lot more expensive than they're letting on. What good does powering 6500 light bulbs do if it required 30 years to pay off the investment?

Scientists have developed a "tongue display" to help people with balance problems stay up and those bound to wheel chairs avoid pressure sores. The idea is to use small electrical pulses on the tongue to substitute for lost sensations in the affected areas. The device would appear to be very small, easy to learn, and (one would hope) affordable. What will they think of next?

Remember that new superconducting material we linked up awhile ago? It's still providing surprises:

[Frank Hunte, a postdoctoral associate at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory's Applied Superconductivity Center] and his colleagues thought the world-record [45-tesla Hybrid] magnet would be more than sufficient to test the field tolerance limits of the new material. They thought wrong: The iron oxyarsenide kept superconducting all the way up to 45 tesla, far past the point at which other superconductors become normal conductors.

Magnetic resistance is one of the three elusive requirements for making large-scale use of superconductors practical. Will this new material provide the other two as well?

A company has announced the development of a heart stent coated with a substance found in tooth enamel. The hope is the new device will offer superior protection and fewer side effects when compared to metal-only stents. If it keeps the ticker tickin', I guess it's allright with me.

Zahi Hawass & co. are at it again, this time announcing the discovery of an ancient city in the Sinai peninsula. Thought to be about 3500 years old, it represents the most ancient citadel found in that area to-date.

That new excavation project of Stonehenge we've occasionally linked articles on has produced what appears to be a definitive summary of their findings. According to the report, it would seem the place was a ceremonial burial ground for perhaps a single family for something like 30 generations. Then, about 3500 years ago, it was abandoned and eventually forgotten. To provide a different time fix for just how ancient this place is, consider that when this place was abandoned after five centuries of use, the pyramids were just being built. Even more tantalizing are remains that seem to indicate the site was in use more than 10,000 years ago.

Ron gets a no-prize that's burnt on one side for bringing us news of the development of a bacteria-based computer which can solve the classic "pancake problem". As with most bio-based computer designs I've read about lately, they've got it solving extremely simple problems right now. It would seem that, while this technique has a lot of promise, practical applications are still in the "after I retire" time frame.

If one scientist's theories prove correct, the largest biomass in the world may not be in the oceans, but under them. Perhaps 111 million years old to boot. Stephen Gould once said evidence seems to indicate that as soon as life could exist on Earth, it did. It now seems increasingly likely that, barring something that destroys the planet outright, it always will.

Heck something like that may even be able to tolerate the Sun's future expansion into a red giant.

Mark gets an ancient no-prize with a special oak leaf cluster (for providing a great title to this post) for bringing us news of the discovery of the most ancient bust of Julius Ceasar found to-date. I've always thought it's remarkable that we have a very good idea what a particular set of elites looked like between about 500 BC and 300 AD, and have no idea what anyone else really looked like on either side of that window for thousands of years. I do not doubt I would recognize any of the Julio-Claudians were they to walk down a street.

Looks like some doctors are getting a little frisky with the ol' fMRIs. Any time someone says "brain structure" and "political party" in the same sentence, I get damned suspicious.

I'll see your fancy flying robots and raise you a fancy floating robot. Hopefully they'll have some telemetry devices on their shiny robotic sailing vessel, otherwise if it fails to cross the Atlantic all by itself they may never know for sure what happened.

Annie gets a weirdly intriguing no-prize for bringing us the results of a recent genetic survey of everyone's favorite egg-laying mammal, the platypus. As the article notes, it would seem they're just as weird on the inside as they are on the outside.

Scientists seem to have found a link between early childhood abuse and adult suicide. The finding may not be as "duh" as you think. The link is physiological, which means it can be tested for and potentially treated.

Ron gets a really weird looking no-prize for bringing us the story of Beauty, a bald eagle with most of the top of its beak gone, presumably due to a gunshot. Her caretakers are going to try to build an artificial upper beak so she can eat and drink more normally.

Ron gets a no-prize the size of a small car for bringing us the latest on that colossal squid dissection. It would appear the thing got caught because it was hungry. The downfall of many of us, I would guess.

A team lead by a University of Arkansas* professor have found strong evidence that "Liem’s Paradox" applies to hominids just as much as fish. Oh don't worry, I didn't know what it was either. Go read, you'll get it.

Egypt studies, hominid research... boy, the anth department at my alma mater is sure a helluva lot more interesting than it was when I was an undergrad. I guess getting a billion dollar endowment from three or four of the richest people in the country will do that for ya!

----
* Go Hogs Thankyouverymuch!

DNA from a recently uncovered corpsicle shows a direct link between the victim and 17 living descendants. Which wouldn't be all that remarkable, except the "victim" was a native American who lived several hundred years ago. Ain't DNA testing grand?

Early reports indicate the colossal squid dissected in New Zealand was a smallish specimen. According to the dissection blog (no, really!) the specimen was female.

Ron gets a no-prize on the end of a hook for bringing us news of an upcoming colossal squid dissection. You remember the one they caught a few years ago? Yeah, it's that one. And it's going to be covered by the Discovery channel, so it'll be coming soon to a TV screen near, well, us anyway. Woot!

UK researchers would appear to have found a link between what a woman eats for breakfast and what sex her unborn child will become. It would seem breakfast cereal consumption increases the chance a woman will have a boy. I'm not sure if this explains anything, but it's an interesting thought.

A new genetic study seems to indicate humanity experienced a profound population split about 100,000 years ago. The findings have implications not only for population studies but also for cultural development, as the timing of the "reunification" seems to match the era when human culture exploded in diversity.

Scientists at the University of Texas have created a microbe which produces a type of cellulose which is much cheaper to turn into biofuel than the type produced by plants. Of all the new processes announced this year, this one definitely seems the most promising. It would seem to change the problem of biofuel creation from one of expensive enzymes and complex processing to one of simple brewing. Could this be the first step in "microbrew" fuel stations? Well, we can always hope!

Scientists have announced the invention of a microelectronic "super lens" capable of beating the diffraction limit by a factor of ten. Unlike far more exotic examples, this device is simple to produce, and has potential uses as varied as microprocessor creation and wireless power transmission.

Scientists have discovered that providing certain kinds of bacteria the right combination of nutrients defeats one of their important antibiotic resistances. Bacteria which can go dormant for long periods of time often avoid antibiotics entirely. Using the discovered technique, scientists were able to destroy 99% of these bugs by first giving them just enough food to "wake up" (but not reproduce), and then immediately nuking them with antibiotics. It's not clear if this technique will be useful outside a lab, but it does provide a new line of research.

The headline says it all: Terracotta army has egg on its face. It would appear the paints used on the famous Chinese terracotta army were egg-based, which made them far more durable than ancient water-based colors.

When you see things like this, don't gasp in wonder. Gasp at the waste. Yes, it's amazing, but in a very real sense these emperors and kings were spending bread money to put men on the moon. Except the Apollo program never came close to a majority share of this country's budget. The ancient world was so poor follies such as mountains of stone pointing nowhere, and clay pot armies buried for no reason, almost certainly were.

Little wonder no ancient society ever survived them.

The oldest living tree yet found has been discovered on a windswept plain in Sweden. At 9500 years old, it most likely represents one of the first trees to ever take root in that area, since before then the place was covered with glaciers.

It would seem the Flores 'hobbit' walked more like a clown than a regular person. The more they examine these things, the stranger they seem to get.

Scientists have developed a new class of superconducting materials which could help explain how other, similar, materials really work. The new types appear to superconduct around 55K, which is far below the record holding 134K that so-called "cuprate" materials can achieve. However, it's hoped these new materials will provide insight on what makes the older ones tick, which until now has been quite a mystery.

Scientists have announced the discovery of some interesting genetic patterns between ourselves and our closest living cousins, the chimps and bonobos. While the discovery that some bonobo and chimp genes are more closely related to us than they are to each other is all well and good, if I read this book correctly, it doesn't necessarily mean interbreeding. I can't recall the details just from memory, but there are definitely simple inheritance patterns which could lead to such a thing without needing a bunch of semi-sentient primates boinking each other every chance they get. Sort of thing.

Using reconstructions based on recent fossil finds, scientists claim to have created a model of what a Neanderthal human would've sounded like when they spoke. If the model is correct (no guarantees there), it appears they could in fact form words but their sound range was limited, making their language less nuanced than that of modern humans.

Pat gets an ancient and mysterious no-prize for bringing us news that the recently-begun excavation around Stonehenge is already producing results. You'd think as many times as this thing has been investigated over the centuries, it'd be picked clean by now. Never underestimate the persistence of human trash!

Scientists claim to have found definitive evidence of when sexual reproduction developed on Earth. Target date: 565 million years ago. No word on when the first cigarette was smoked, nor first snores heard.

By using a special sort of x-ray machine, scientists have developed the ability to image insects trapped in opaque amber. Even better, they're able to create models of their finds using 3D "printers."

A new study shows that life in ancient Egypt was nowhere near as fun as it seemed, at least for the common people. My old undergrad adviser Jerry Rose was co-author of the study. Go Hogs!

Scientists have announced a new technique which allows the creation of flexible silicon chips. It's hoped these new items will be useful in a whole raft of applications which previously could not use electronics due to form factor issues.

Scientists have used therapeutic cloning techniques to cure mice of Parkinson's disease. While interesting as a proof of concept, it's unclear if the research could be applied to people, economically or otherwise.

It would seem those who predicted that the Three Gorges Dam would be courting disaster may have been right. I think. I can only get the first page of the article, but that bit does seem interesting.

A group of scientists are claiming to have discovered a means of storing hydrogen using buckminsterfullerene, better known as "bucky balls." The soccer-ball-like molecules appear to be able to strong enough to hold a hydrogen at a density approaching that of the depths of Jupiter. At least, that's what the press release says. If it actually pans out (and that's a big damned if), we may some day be able to power hybrids using something that will vaguely resemble plastic sand.

I'm pretty sure it would Be Bad to hit a bag full of that stuff with a hammer. But wtf do I know?

Pat gets an amazingly well-preserved no-prize for bringing us this look at only the forth "mummified" dinosaur ever found. I think the earliest mummy dinosaur ever discovered is on display at the American Natural History Museum in New York, and it was pretty darned amazing. This one seems to be even better preserved.

Scientists have invented a tiny cooling fan with no moving parts. Calling something that doesn't move a "fan" seems a bit of a contradiction, but if it can give me a laptop that doesn't require a big ol' external fan to be comfortable to use, as my current one does, I'm all for it.

Scientists have discovered that the common sand dollar larvae clone themselves when confronted with threatening predators. There is a price: cloned larvae do not grow to be as big as non-clones. I wonder what happens if both survive?

Anthropologists have found another island very recently inhabited by very small humans. This time it would seem folks are in agreement that it's some form of dwarfism. I think.

Mark gets an ancient and beautiful no-prize for bringing us news that August's house on Palatine hill has been re-opened to the public. Yet another thing to put on my sightseeing list.

Researchers in Japan have come up with experiments which seem to confirm the "shock wave" theory of traffic jams. Which may explain why my commute takes 20 minutes longer than it should for no damned apparent reason, but unfortunately it doesn't help much with those homicidal urges I get in the middle of them.

Life's funny that way, I guess.

Scientists are reporting a connection between the life cycle of bacteria and, of all things, snow flake creation. It's even hypothesized this process could strongly influence rain and snowfall patterns. Busy little bugs!

Scientists have announced the discovery of the largest marine reptile ever found. The specimen is a whopping 20% bigger than the next largest discovery, and appears to be some sort of pliosaur.

Mike J. gets a no prize he can stare at whilst being burned at the stake for bringing us even more evidence that climate change is something that can be conclusively proven in both directions. Think about this one the next time some Democrat watermelon greenie proposes economy-strangling regulations in the name of the environment.

It would appear it's much harder to trigger an earthquake via rainfall than was previously thought. Turns out such events are heavily influenced by the type of geography on which the rain falls.

Why the media haven't been trumpeting "RAINFALL HAS POTENTIAL TO DEVASTATE SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA" headlines all this time I'll never know.

At least one man claims to have finally solved the mystery of the Ark of the Covenant. The evidence seems rather tenuous to me, but wtf do I know? Time to put the upcoming History Channel special on the ol' Tivo to-do list!

Six pages of well-written, "Moses-puzzled-but-bringing-down-the-tablets-anyway" science writing, and what do slashdotters lock onto? A single sentence that mentions Jedi Knights. Ah well, if it gets you to read the article, I suppose it was worth it.

Scientists seem to be advancing in their use of stem cells for therapeutic treatments. Stroke treatment = good! Tumors = bad!

It would seem animals really aren't a kind of autistic savant. Just what they are is, obviously, still a point of contention. The ones around my house seem to mostly be stomachs with variously shaped clothing on. The cats even come with a convenient "reverse" button, which they press often and with abandon, much to the detriment of our carpet.

Scientists have discovered a new fossil which provides more evidence that Madagascar and South America were once connected in the distant past. The real puzzler for me is that, since this thing is supposed to be related to the modern horned lizard, why the BBC reporter never once mentioned the creature is actually a reptile, not an amphibian.

It appears that weak flames behave differently in space than they do on Earth. "Paging Ric Romero," you say? Well, it turns out the reasons are more subtle, and less well understood, than you'd think.

Ron gets a damned cold no-prize for bringing us the latest discoveries regarding the migration of humans from Asia to America. Turns out, at least according to this research, the people in question may have had to wait up to 5,000 years before they were able to complete the passage.

Scientists have discovered new evidence that bats first developed flight, then the echolocation system common to all extant species. The fossil evidence dates back 53 million years, and seems to show all bat species alive at that time were already proficient fliers. Perhaps they developed flight during the age of the dinosaurs?

Scientists have announced the ability to create three-dimensional structures using DNA as the constructor. The article touts it as a 'Holy Grail' for nanotech. I'll have to take their word for it. Now, bring on the stuff!

Problem: "it’s hard to measure things about an animal that moves around at night, lives 30 metres up a tree, and can glide 100 metres away from you in an arbitrary direction in 10 seconds."

Solution: Wii remotes.

Is there anything it can't do?

A new study seems to indicate children learn language through a process very similar to computer data mining. It's hoped the findings will point toward more effective techniques for teaching languages to children and adults. Considering the horrific time I had learning German in college, anything that provides a different technique would be welcome, to me at least.

Scientists have combined the genetic information of three people to create a single embryo. The idea is to help women with mitocondrial DNA diseases by using that specific sort of genetic material from another, unaffected, woman. There's a huge creep-out factor in this for me, but if it leads to healthy kids, and it's not being done using my tax dollars, well, I wouldn't agree to legislation that stopped it.

I think.

Desperate to drum up some sort of interest in what is clearly a government conspiracy to rain spy satellite bits down on us, the New York Times is reduced to interviewing guys who like to watch said satellites zip across the sky.

My dad's place is dark enough at night to see these things as they go by. I'll admit it's pretty interesting, at least looking up from a pool raft whilst holding a beer. They're fast enough I can't imagine tracking them with a telescope, but who knows?

Pat gets a no-prize John Belushi once used as a prop on Weekend Update (oh go look it up) for bringing us news of one of the more unique hobbies in the sky watching field.

Some scientists are proposing that the origin of life may not lie in soupy puddles, or squishy clay, but instead may reside inside the most unlikely of things, ice. The basis of the theory is a process called "eutectic freezing," which causes certain sorts of chemical reactions, in particular certain sorts that give rise to organic molecules, to actually increase as temperature decreases.

Mike J gets a no-prize of the purest green for bringing us news of new developments related to fuel cells. This time, it's not about making the cells themselves more powerful or efficient, but rather it's about a fundamentally different (and, according to the inventors) cheaper way of creating what powers the fuel cell... namely, hydrogen.

If it moves us closer to strangling radical Islam's primary source of funding, I'm all for it!

Scientists studying mass graves of the time have made some interesting discoveries about Black Death victims of the middle ages. One of the best-kept secrets of historic archeology is the almost complete neglect of human remains. An enormous amount of information can be gleaned from skeletal analysis: demographics, diet and disease, migration patterns, even a surprising amount of life history. Yet time and again you'll find no mention whatever of such examinations. As an undergraduate, I and a few of my fellow anthropology majors took some classical studies courses. Time and again we were surprised that some of the best-known archeology sites were known to have substantial human remains which had never been studied. It would seem that, twenty years later, nothing much has changed. The thesis potential alone is staggering, let alone what contributions could be made to general knowledge.

I guess it just takes getting someone to open up the bone boxes.

Via Instapundit.

Scientists have found evidence that the Earth's center may be "softer" than current theories predict. Sometimes it's hard for me to keep in mind that the bits of the planet I'm most familiar with represent something akin to wet paper wrapped around an orange.

Ron gets a gigantic hamster-wheel no-prize for bringing us news of the discovery of a 2,000 lb. ancient rodent. Well, those saber-toothed cats had to eat something, donchaknow?

A group of geneticist are making the claim that one whole branch of the "tree of life" should be pruned. Since I'm (obviously) not a geneticist, I'll have to defer to the peer reviewers and the *shudder* reporters on this one. Ancient biology fascinates me, but the details tend to make my head 'asplode.

Scientists are reporting two cups of coffee a day can double a woman's risk of miscarriage. No booze, no cigs, no coffee... no wonder pregnant women are so cranky.

It's pretty hard to worry about global warming melting the Antarctic ice sheet when Antarctica is busily trying to melt it via more direct means. A "sub-glacial" volcano is just another reason why screwing around with glaciers is bad.

While I'd seen a few previous examples of "concrete-cast ant colonies," it took this video to show me one in-situ. It's amazing how far the tiniest of critters can get if they work hard enough, long enough.

Ron gets a no-prize that'll clone itself for spare parts for bringing us news that scientists have created apparently viable embryos from adult skin cells. It's unclear if the embryos would've been able to be brought to term, since nobody wanted to try. Regardless, it would definitely seem we are getting much closer to being able to create perfect replacement parts.

Genetic research seems to have settled once-and-for-all where syphilis originated.

That syphilis originated in the Americas and was transported to Europe by early Spanish explorers was conventional wisdom at least as far back as the mid-80s, when I learned about it in college. Of course, as with any social science, there's nothing so conventional that some powerful anthropologist can't challenge, so there was always this grinding background of "did not / did too / did not / did too" in the various journals of the time.

Now that an independent line of research has confirmed the prediction, you'd think all these old coots would sit down and shut up about it. No way Jose! The only reliable way to get an entrenched academic to change their opinion is to let the Grim Reaper escort them off the stage. Otherwise there's nothing quite as pleasing to them as arguing with the tide (and, of course, ruining the occasional grad student's career in the process).

Via Instapundit.

Scientists are reporting garlic is an effective tool to combat arsenic poisoning. A solution in search of a problem, you think? Tell that to the millions of Bangladeshi and Indian residents whose water supplies are full of the stuff. Tasty!

Ron gets a no-prize could put Rent completely out of business for bringing us news of new developments in AIDS research. If it leads to new treatments it's great, but I bet the grad students who had to test every single thing one at a time probably weren't having much fun.

Scientists are reporting on an extremely rare dinosaur fossil that has allowed them to examine the nature and construction of dinosaur skin. Turns out it's a lot like a shark skin, for some of the same reasons.

Scientists are for the first time reporting evidence that the central nervous system can re-route functionality around spinal injuries. The findings are already pointing the way toward new therapies for paralysis victims. Too late for Reeves, but I wonder if the publicity and funding he brought had anything to do with advancing this discovery?

Scientists are working on technologies which promise to use everyone's favorite "poisonous gas that is not actually a poison" to create fuel. Scrubbing CO2 from the atmosphere and then jiggering with it until it becomes gasoline sure as heck sounds like a neat idea, but the "ten to fifteen years" to a deployable technology tends to translate to "after I retire" in science-speak. In other words, in my experience the phrase is a red-flag indicating they know they have a great idea, but have clue zero as to how it can be made to work cheaply. Of course, with demand rising as various third-world countries beaver their way forward to the first world, cheap may end up being a relative thing.

Scientists have traced a rare genetic defect that greatly increases the risk of colon cancer to perhaps a single married couple who immigrated to the US some time around 1630. Two populations, one in Utah and one in New York, have been discovered to possess this defect, but it's possible others have yet to be discovered. While the defect seems quite rare, it increases the risk of cancer from 1 in 25 to a whopping 2 out of 3. If a test can be developed, it would at least eliminate that indication (or provide an early warning sign for extra vigilance.)

It's like Roto-rooter, for your heart. A surgical instrument that works inside your arteries, leading to bypass operations without the tremendous trauma. We're living in science fiction, I tell ya.

Scientists are reporting on the discovery of no fewer than six genetically exclusive populations of giraffe. To me it would seem they're seeing the very start of a speciation event, but what do I know?

Scientists have discovered yet another way we differ radically from our closest living relatives. This time up, menopause. Seems both chimp and human females lose their reproductive abilities at around age 40, but the chimp drop off is caused by, well, chimps dropping off. Those which manage to survive are actually more successful at raising the kids than the younger ones, and are preferred by male chimps perhaps because of this. The long post-reproductive survival period seems to be one of the most biologically distinguishing things about us.

Scientists are reporting the development of a "desktop" synchrotron. I'm pretty sure this is a Good Thing, but my head 'asploded about half way through the article. "Ugh. Scientist say is good. That good enough for Thag."

Slashdot linked up news of the development of a camera system which appears to help folks with minor dementia remember things. The camera is worn by the person in question, and it takes a special stabilized photograph of the person's surroundings every 30 seconds. The pictures can then be uploaded to a playback device, which the person can use to review what they did that day. Studies are showing this seems to significantly improve recall in test patients.

Personally, I think it'd be pretty useful in bars too. At least then you'd know the exact sequence that lead to your losing an arm in a "coyote" encounter.

Scientists have discovered that "scrambled" polymers are effective at killing drug-resistant bacteria. The discovery was unintentional... while trying to design effective polymers to exploit bacterial weaknesses, scientists found the "control" of random polymers did much better than anything they were designing. Ain't experimental protocols grand?

Scientists have uncovered a rare ancient wooden throne at Herculanium. It's exact purpose is unclear, but it represents the first time such a significant piece of ceremonial furniture has been found.

Big surprise the MSM forgot to mention the recent stem cell breakthrough was not without its problems:

Now the Kyoto team, led by biologist Shinya Yamanaka, reports that it can reprogram adult skin cells in both mice and humans into induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells without c-Myc. Further, in a mouse model, when the cells are incorporated into an embryo, the adult animal faces a dramatically lower risk of developing cancer. But there's a catch: "We found that the omission of [c-Myc] resulted in fewer numbers of iPS cell colonies," Yamanaka told ScientificAmerican.com via e-mail. "The process also takes longer. However, most of resulting iPS cells are very good."

And, as they say, "that's not all, folks!" Still, it would seem progress of a sort, although it definitely looks like we're quite a long way from being able to grow organs in a jar.

Ron gets a no-prize that deserves to be punished for bringing us news of the development of an artificial liver which functions for weeks instead of days. This allows drug companies to test new compounds for toxicity in a more reliable, repeatable, and less expensive ways. Which leads to mo' betta' drugs, at least in theory.

The Washington Post today carried news of the discovery of that most rare of fossils, a mummified dinosaur. As noted in the article, this is quite different from your garden variety virgin sacrifice in the Andes mountains. It's a completely mineralized creature, perhaps even down to the internal organs.

Scientists have figured out how to create "zombie cockroaches" by injecting them with a specific wasp venom. The wasp uses the venom to create a kind of "self-propelled food item" for their larva back at the nest. Scientists think the discovery could be useful in developing a number of medicines.

A new genetic study seems to indicate that all Native American populations are descended from one group of people in Asia who either all left about 12,000 years ago, or left in stages starting at that time. The "multi-pulse" alternative matches up with theories based on linguistics.

It would appear the last two "missing" Romanovs have been found. By amateur sleuths, no less. Unfortunately the ending isn't a happy one... as widely expected, the Bolsheviks killed all of the Czar's family. They just didn't bury them all in the same place.

Scientists have discovered a new method by which life may have gotten its start on Earth. Scientists have found that liquid crystal phases of tiny DNA strands create conditions favorable for spontaneous organization, which perpetuates and expands that favorable environment, causing, as it were, the music to go round and round again.

I learned long ago that evolution is not about how life got started, but rather how it progressed after it began. "Abiogenesis" was the word I learned which described the field of life creation. It would seem a new step in this world has been made.

By re-tasking a new neutrino detector being built at the South Pole, scientists hope to take snapshots of the Earth's core. It would seem to work on the same principle as an x-ray on a human body, but it uses neutrinos colliding with the Earth's core instead.

Scientists are reporting the discovery of the largest sea scorpion ever found. Nearly 10 feet long! These critters appear to have been a very successful apex predator, and relatives are suspected to have lead the way onto land.

Scientists have announced significant progress toward creating a blood transfusion substitute. None of them seem to be anywhere near a marketable product, but it's interesting to hear they're moving forward. Can SmartBlood^tm be far behind?

Scientists seem to have found conclusive proof that chocolate was discovered as a by-product of brewing a particular sort of ancient beer. So no more making fun of me sitting with a Snickers bar and a Heineken, eh?

Scientists in the US and Finland have developed microscopic microwaves and refrigerators, respectively. Both devices should make things like "chemlabs on a chip" more effective and more affordable. Reading the article, I was reminded of an Arthur Clarke quote, "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."

Australian scientists claim to have successfully decoded several kinds of humpbacked whale sounds. Unsurprisingly, the most common appear to be pick-up lines trotted out by single males and scolding sounds from mothers to children. The more things change...

Ron gets a no-prize covered in harbor mud for bringing us this story about an "aquatic Pompeii." Due to unique circumstances, an ancient port near modern Pisa contains the remains of dozens of extremely well-preserved ancient ships. Most include their original cargoes, some even their original crews. The story of how they came to be there is nearly as interesting as how they're being pulled out.

Scientists are testing whether or not the chemical which makes peppers hot could be used as a kind of anesthesia. Capsaicin not only blows your head off in a chili pepper, it also numbs nerves. It's hoped this could lead to new treatments for post-operative pain.

Scientists have discovered the first evidence that Velociraptor-like dinosaurs really did hunt in packs. It also appears they really did carry that vicious-looking claw upright to protect its sharpness. Bonus: actual Velociraptors were turkey-sized. Having seen an actual turkey up close this weekend, I can definitely say I would not want to be around a pack of 5 or 6 hungry ones. Turkeys may not be the biggest birds in the world, but they're absolutely not what I'd call small.

Scientists have discovered new insights into the spiny anteater's mating behavior. I bet the graduate assistants on that project were wondering what they'd done in a previous life to deserve that assignment.

Ron gets a no-prize that goes well with "chowdah" for bringing us news of a most unusual adhesive:

[S]cientists have developed a coating that mimics the tenacious adhesion of a mussel. The coating could improve biosensors, medical devices, marine and medical anti-fouling coatings, purify water contaminated with heavy metals, and advance manufacturing methods for flexible displays.

The secret ingredient? Dopamine, of all things. Turns out it's not just for brain chemistry!

Scientists have pushed back the date for the evolution of modern humans to 164,000 years ago. By using various new techniques, they also have located the five most likely spots to search for evidence of the earliest of humans. Turns out Africa wasn't a particularly nice place to live around that time, and so only a very few places were even capable of supporting humans.

Mark gets a thunderous no-prize with a name that'll make Beavis and Butthead giggle constantly for bringing us news of the discovery of yet another giant Patagonian dinosaur. This one's very well preserved, and was so damned large it seems to have created a major fossil deposit just by blocking up the river currents where it died.

While not as Warner Brothers-worth as a mouse, the discovery that African elephants haul ass at the sound of a bee swarm is still amusing. And useful, since everyone's favorite pachyderm is responsible for huge crop losses in a region of the world that can afford such things the least.

Something tells me simply buzzing loudly at that charging female won't do you much good, so FYI.