Weird Science – Above and Below.

Tonight is the night of the Yule moon, also called the “wolf moon” (the first new full moon of the year), and coincidentally will be the largest and brightest full moon of 2010. This is because the Moon’s orbit is not a perfect circle but an ellipse, with its nearest point to Earth some 31 thousand miles closer than its furthest. And occasionally the full moon will coincide with this closest approach, which is enough for the moon to appear 14% larger and 30% brighter than at any other time this year. Incidentally, this also means the previous new moon was very nearly the smallest it could have been, which is why – along with occurring with Earth at its nearest to the Sun – the solar eclipse on January 15th was annular (Space.com).

Also watching the skies tonight may be Luchezar Filipov, Deputy Head of Space Exploration at the Bulgarian Academy of Science. However, Filipov’s interest is not the Moon, but aliens, who he believes are living among us on Earth at this very moment. Filipov and his team claim to be in telepathic contact with the aliens, who he says are friendly, but could not establish a coherent conversation because of our “lack of evolution”. This lack of coherence appears to have only been one way however, as Filipov was still able to state that the aliens were critical of our immoral behaviour, environmental destruction and use of cosmetics and artificial insemination, which they condemned as unnatural – unlike space travel one presumes. The next meeting of minds between Filipov and the aliens is scheduled for sometime in spring this year (Sofia Echo).

But perhaps the aliens are backing the wrong species, because it’s move over Iron Man and make way for Iron Snail. The scaly-foot snail is certainly well protected for its kind, with an iron rich outer layer that deters piercing, a thick organic middle that dissipates the force of an attack and a calcified inner layer that gives the shell sufficient rigidity to resist attempts to crush it. The snail’s armour is so good that it’s attracted the interest of the Department of Defense, who are seeing if any useful lessons could be learned for application in the man-made versions (MIT).

Someone else who could have benefited from some armour is “Macho B”, who was – until his death in February last year, the last known wild jaguar in South West America. Perversely, it wasn’t poachers who did for him in the end but Arizona’s own Fish and Game Department, who deny it was their intention to capture the jaguar despite setting snares around his territory. Now a federal inquiry has concluded that Macho B was trapped deliberately, and the Federal Fish and Wildlife Service is considering whether to bring charges (NY Times).

But even as the jaguar takes one step nearer joining the dinosaurs in extinction, scientists are one step closer to bringing them back, in our imaginations at least. For the first time, a team from China, the United Kingdom and Ireland have determined the colours and pattern of a dinosaur, a metre-long feathered carnivore called Sinosauropteryx. Turns out the bird-like bipeds were orange, with white striped tails and a “mohawk” display crest on their heads. Despite the feathers, Sinosauropteryx was a flightless reptile who most likely used its feathers primarily for display (CBC).

Posted By: Dumbfounded - Fri Jan 29, 2010 - Comments (3)
Category: Aliens, Animals, Government, Military, Science, Goofs and Screw-ups

The Return of Dr. X

Do you think Humphrey Bogart proudly highlighted this film on his CV?

Posted By: Paul - Thu Jan 28, 2010 - Comments (2)
Category: Death, Science, Experiments, 1930s

Do It Yourself Insemination

Ladies! Is your biological clock ticking away but there's no man in your life? Have no fear, the do it yourself insemination kit is here! But what is it and where does it come from? Well, back in 2005, Britian changed a law that affects the anonymity of sperm donors and has since seen a huge drop in the amount of sperm being donated. This has lead to women seeking fertility treatments abroad, and in a growing number of cases, buying do it yourself insemination kits from the internet. Yes, that means you can buy an unknown man's sperm online and use it to inseminate yourself in the comfort of your own home. The kit (shown) contains a sterile semen container, lubricant, a plastic speculum, disposable gloves and sterile pasteur pipettes. You can read more about the process here and order the kit. (Bonus! You can also order a vibrator for men.) Frankly, I would think you'd have to be extremely flexible to do this by yourself.

Posted By: Nethie - Sun Jan 24, 2010 - Comments (4)
Category: Family, Science, Sexuality, Body Fluids

A Man with Vision

This is definitely one of those "why hasn't someone thought of this before?" type inventions. Back in March of 1985, Josh Silver, a physics professor at Oxford University, had a conversation with a colleague about optical lenses and the sort of specialized equipment needed to adjust them. And in that moment, he had an idea that will affect the lives of billions - a pair of glasses that can be almost instantly adjusted by the person wearing them. No visits to the eye-doctor. No money spent. The concept relies on the principle that the fatter a lens is, the more powerful it becomes. (Remember the kid in fourth-grade who had glasses thick enough to be from the bottom of a coke bottle?) These glasses consist of hollow plastic lenses, inside which are two clear sacs filled with fluid. Using a small syringe, the person wearing the glasses can add or remove fluid, thus changing the power of the lens. Silver's team has already started to distribute the spectacles. You can read more about these amazing glasses, and the man behind them, here.

Posted By: Nethie - Sat Dec 26, 2009 - Comments (8)
Category: Body, Health, Inventions, Science

Turning a Sphere Inside Out

In case you wanted to know how to turn a sphere inside out without creasing it, this short video shows how to do it. It doesn't make any sense to me, but maybe someone out there can explain how the solution doesn't crease. Another bonus -- it seems to be narrated by two androids.



At least it's interesting to watch. Maybe turn off the sound so you don't have to listen to the narration?

Posted By: gdanea - Wed Nov 18, 2009 - Comments (4)
Category: Science

Four Dimension Animation

This kind of looks like an evolving octopus, and there is even a formula for creating this design on the You Tube notes. I think it is a great animation of four dimensions.


Or maybe not -- opinions?

Posted By: gdanea - Tue Nov 17, 2009 - Comments (3)
Category: Science

Chinese Fruit Bats Engage in Some Kinky Behavior

A scientific paper published today on http://www.plosone.org details some interesting bat behavior. The article title really says it all Fellatio by Fruit Bats Prolongs Copulation Time. The paper's abstract goes on to state "A positive relationship exists between the length of time that the female licked the male's penis during copulation and the duration of copulation. Furthermore, mating pairs spent significantly more time in copulation if the female licked her mate's penis than if fellatio was absent."

The image above (and a more in-depth discussion of naughty bat behavior) comes from this article on Treehugger.com

Posted By: dherlich - Wed Oct 28, 2009 - Comments (6)
Category: Animals, Science

Cyber-pigeon!

In this photo from the Life archives, we see a 1962 experiment involving the affixing of goggles to a pigeon to learn more about its vision.

Please be sure to magnify the photo for full horrifying effect.

Posted By: Paul - Sun Oct 18, 2009 - Comments (4)
Category: Animals, Science, Experiments, 1960s

Same color illusion and Space Station

Compliments of one of my favorite sites -- the Astronomy Picture of the Day

First, a same color illusion (originally from Wikipedia).



Next is the Space Station.



Some other images to check out are the "Old Faithful Full Moon" from October 3rd and the Hologram Tea pot (with a complicated explanation) from September 13th.

This website has lots more than just pictures of the sky!!

Here's the website:

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html

Posted By: gdanea - Sun Oct 11, 2009 - Comments (2)
Category: Science

Tectonic plates movement over 650 million years

Cool simulation of past and future tectonic plate movement!!



I like the music too!!

Posted By: gdanea - Fri Sep 11, 2009 - Comments (5)
Category: Science