…and it’s the theme to Batman. No, really. It’s the first time non-humans have been shown to be able to grasp the concept of rhythm, and that’s very exciting, but… Batman?!
You are a party of one
When you’re deeply asleep, the various parts of your brain stop talking amongst themselves. Consciousness, it seems, is just chemical-driven chatter–rather like the conversation at a cocktail party.
Miocenic Park
A University of Manchester scientist has discovered the first identified droplets of spider blood in a piece of amber up to 20 million years old. And yes, it might be possible to recover DNA from it. And then it turns out that spiders from the Miocene are both highly poisonous and diabolically clever and we’re …
We’re lucky!
Our universe could have had seven dimensions–and no planetary systems as we know them.
Keep this handy in case of quicksand:
Apparently, you can float free–as long as you don’t panic. Or, if you can lift a small car, and your leg is firmly attached, you can just pull yourself out.
First video and photos of giant squid in action
A couple of years ago I wrote about the collosal squid. Now Japanese researchers have captured a living giant (not collosal, but still amazing) squid on camera. They have video; National Geographic has some still photos.
Taking aim at an asteroid
We’ve all seen it in movies: scientists spot a giant comet/asteroid hurtling toward Earth, and Bruce Willis/Clint Eastwood must fly out to it and blow it up/nudge it aside before it devastates the planet/blows the special effects budget. But in real life, we don’t really know exactly what it would take to deflect an oncoming …
Well, this ought to get the alien conspiracy theorists going
The first pictures from Cassini of Saturn’s moon Tethys reveal a strange spear-shaped figure. Isn’t it obvious? It’s a crashed alien spaceship, which left a long, straight scar in the surface of the moon as it went down. My bet is it’s the same aliens who built the Face on Mars. Or possibly the ones …
But what will People for the Ethical Treatment of Robots think?
Down in Mexico, they’re usingrobot patients to train doctors. (Via MedGadget.)
The end of the jukebox musical?
My wife and I (like millions of other people) really enjoyed the ABBA tribute musical Mamma Mia. But in the wake of high-profile failures of shows based on the music of John Lennon and The Beach Boys (among others) it appears the brief era of the “jukebox musical” may be coming to an end.
This could really suck…
…but in the case of a musical about Anne Rice’s Vampire Lestat, maybe that’s a good thing.
The X Prize: What are the "losers" up to?
Robin Snelson answers a question I’ve had for some time with an article in The Space Review about the “X Prize losers,” the teams that were in the race, at least on paper, but were beat out by the much-better-funded SpaceShip One bunch. Of particular interest: “The da Vinci Project has been keeping a low …
My latest live walk and vlog
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