My latest for Hobo Pancakes. Ook ook!
In Focus: Scenes From Antarctica
Summer is returning to Antarctica and researcher teams from around the world are heading south for the (relatively) warm season. Among them are members of a Russian team that drilled into Lake Vostok last February. Vostok is a subglacial lake some 4,000 meters below the surface of the ice, and the plan is to send a robot down there this summer to collect water samples and sediments from the bottom. Research also continues at the South Pole Telescope, the IceCube Neutrino Observatory, and dozens of other locations around Antarctica. Gathered here are recent images of Antarctica, its environment, and some of the scientific work taking place there.
See more. [Images: National Science Foundation]
Amazing photography.
And the lede: “The fact that men love breasts seems so obvious that you may wonder why anyone would even bother to look for a meaningful explanation for the obsession.”
And yet, I clicked.
Because I’m a boob.
Siberian Salamander can freeze for years down to -50 degrees Fahrenheit.
The Remarkable Freezing Salamander
Found mainly in the Arctic Circle, Russia and Northeast Asia, the Siberian Salamander (Salamandrella keyserlingii) is a unique creature that can survive long periods of time frozen. The adult salamander is able to adapt to temperatures as low as –45 degrees Celsius by replacing the water in its blood and cells with ‘antifreeze’ chemicals, thereby protecting its tissues from damage. Other animals are known to use glucose or glycerol for protection in a similar fashion, but the exact mechanism the Siberian salamandar uses to produce its chemicals is so far unknown—but it’s highly effective. They can survive frozen for years, metres under the permafrost, and then they just casually thaw out and walk off again. Local legends claim that salamanders have revived after being frozen alongside mammoths of the Pleistocene age, but although they’ve been found 4–14 m deep in ice, it’s more likely that they just fell down cracks in more recent years. If we could discover how these creatures manage to produce antifreeze chemicals, the process could have useful applications in food storage, medical supplies, and protection of people who live or explore in the snow.
The sharks were caught as bycatch from depths of about 6,500 feet from a region of undersea mountains, or seamounts, about a week’s journey south of the island of Mauritius.
Day after day, the ship’s nets brought up dozens of bizarre sharks from the deep — some dainty, some enormous, nearly all of them rare or entirely new species.
Weird features abound: knifelike snouts, moonlike eyes and at least one shark with a curved, serrated spine emerging from its back.
First, during the 1900s, a scientist named Michael Wolman by accident found that a type of fugus [sic] stops bacteria infection. He was conducting science experiment on bacteria and surprisingly, one type of fungus defended itself against the bacteria. With this precious piece of information given, he immediately stopped working on his bacteria labs and focused on the fungus that we now know as Penecilin….
Another example is Thomas Eddison and the discovery of light and electricity. Thomas Eddison started off looking for ways to make electricity currents and like Michael Wolman, he is man that puts his effort on trying out things that are new to him. This is why he did so well in his carreer and ended up inventing light bulbs.
Jimmy, Grade 11.
That’s what I get for telling them the SAT essay readers grade them strictly on their arguments, not their facts…
A number of studies have suggested that the limit of human capacity in track and field peaked in 1988, and that it would take 16 years to shave 0.16 seconds off the 100m dash record. “But then a strange thing happened,” says io9’s Dvorsky, “and his name was Usain Bolt.”
This is what all of Earth’s water would look like if it were gooped into a sphere 860 miles across and floating over the midwest, says Science.
That’s supposed to happen at the end of this year, right?
I like how Earth isn’t even rated 1.0. The question is, Did it used to be?
Daily chart: life beyond Earth. A new index scores planetary bodies on their suitability for life. Unsurprisingly, Earth tops the list, but Titan, a Saturnian moon, takes the second spot ahead of Mars.
My weekly incorrigible self-promotion
Neurologist David Eagleman’s favorite joke as a child, according to a recent profile of him in The New Yorker. Gotta love scientist humor.
I’d never heard of Eagleman until two weeks ago. Since then, he’s popped up twice on this blog.
I will classily forgo all the easy jokes that are bombarding my brain right now (many of which involve the sperm whale mentioned in the article) and just say that I love this URL — “worlds_largest_penis_museum”? How many others are there??
One cubic millimeter of brain tissue has as many connections as there are stars in the Milky Way.
—According to neurologist David Eagleman, on Thursday’s Report. Colbert’s reaction (“Bull[bleep]!”) is priceless — immediate, genuine, out of (the “Colbert”) character.
