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Titanoceratops - giant dinosaur from New Mexico

Titanoceratops - giant dinosaur from New Mexico

Jan 05 2011 | comment(s)

"Many unknown dinosaurs await discovery in rock formations all over the world, but some new species are hiding in plain sight. One such animal, described in an in-press Cretaceous Research paper, had one of the largest heads of any dinosaur."

Check it out at Smithsonian online:

Titanoceratops
Sam Noble museum specimen, just re-named Titanoceratops. Image from Flickr user cosmicautumn.
Legend of the Killer Storks (And Other Monsters)

Legend of the Killer Storks (And Other Monsters)

Jan 05 2011 | comment(s)

Brian Switek at Wired writes:
Fossil birds don’t often receive good press. Numerous papers pass through the academic literature each year without even a nod from journalists, but the description of a prehistoric stork on the island of Flores proffered such delicious headline bait that reporters could not resist. Although no bigger than its modern-day relatives, this 6-foot stork would have towered over the tiny Flores “hobbits”
Citizen Science: 10-Year-Old Is Youngest Person Ever to Discover a Supernova

Citizen Science: 10-Year-Old Is Youngest Person Ever to Discover a Supernova

Jan 04 2011 | comment(s)

Kathryn Gray, a 10-year-old girl in Canada, has become the youngest person ever to discover a supernova.  With a middle name like Aurora, perhaps that isn't a surprise.

The supernova occurred in the galaxy UGC 3378 and is part of the constellation Camelopardalis.   It is about 240 million light-years away.  She discovered it with the help of two other amateur astronomers.

CBC News has the story

Supernova in UGC 3378
Discovery: Hang Son Doong Cave in Viet Nam Big Enough To Hold A Skyscraper

Discovery: Hang Son Doong Cave in Viet Nam Big Enough To Hold A Skyscraper

Jan 04 2011 | comment(s)

A cave in the Annamite Mountains of Viet Nam contains a river and jungle and is large enough, in spots, to hold a skyscraper.

Hang Son Doong Cave is part of a network of about 150 caves in central Vietnam near the Laotian border.  The husband and wife team of Howard and Deb Limbert first discovered it in 2009 but only recently returned to scale a huge calcite wall and try to find the cavern's end.
A Good Start To 2011 For Conspiracy Theorists - Black Birds Fall Dead From The Sky

A Good Start To 2011 For Conspiracy Theorists - Black Birds Fall Dead From The Sky

Jan 04 2011 | comment(s)

If you're a conspiracy theorist, these are good times.   Leading up to the end of 2012, when the mother of all world endings is scheduled (until the next one), plenty of things would be expected to happen that sets it all in motion and counts as ominous portends, in that 'no-snowflake-in-an-avalanche-takes-the-blame' sort of way.

And one just did.   In Arkansas, thousands of blackbirds fell dead from the sky over the town of Beebe.

First they came for your light bulbs...

First they came for your light bulbs...

Jan 03 2011 | comment(s)

California, the U.S. state in the midst of a budget deficit that would make third world nations cringe, didn't stop finding ways to tinker with an already perilous economy.   100 watt incandescent bulbs will no longer be allowed to be sold along with over 720 other laws the legislature found time to pass while being unable to approve a budget.
A conundrum for the anti-science left - GMO plants could combat climate change

A conundrum for the anti-science left - GMO plants could combat climate change

Dec 29 2010 | comment(s)

Like the right, the left has its anti-science contingent and agriculture is ground zero for the zealots in the environmental movement.   To be sure, any science that is misused can have devastating consequences but genetically modified foods - those that can resist blight or grow in poor climates - have done a lot of good for feeding poor people and had no ill effects whereas so-called 'organic' food can only be purchased for reasonable cost by those fortunate enough to live near it.    
Ancient

Ancient "Bradshaw art" remains colorful for 40,000 years because it is 'alive'

Dec 28 2010 | comment(s)

Ancient rock art in Western Australia has maintained its colors because it is alive, researchers have determined.   Obviously most art fades in a few hundred years but the "Bradshaw art" has looked good for 40,000.

Bacteria and fungi have made homes in there, preserving the color, though making it difficult to accurately date.   A black fungus like Chaetothyriales cannibalizes its ancestors, making a 'biofilm' that can muddy the waters for research.

What broken glass can tell us about climate change

What broken glass can tell us about climate change

Dec 28 2010 | comment(s)

Broken glass isn't some hysterical metaphor by zealots who hate business, a PNAS study found that microscopic particles of dust emitted into the atmosphere when dirt breaks apart follow similar fragment patterns as broken glass and other brittle objects.

Dust is important in the study of atmospheric cause and effect because it is not just a big issue, like climate change and the resulting global warming/cooling/variation (your choice, depending on whether or not you are buried in snow at the moment) but also in weather forecasting (so you would have known you were going to be buried in snow during the third warmest year recently).
Paranoid WikiLeaks leader Julian Assange believes he will be killed if he goes to the US

Paranoid WikiLeaks leader Julian Assange believes he will be killed if he goes to the US

Dec 24 2010 | comment(s)

It's not going to be a surprise to anyone that Julian Assange has become a classic paranoid, especially given the business he has chosen for himself.    You don't publish stolen secret documents without worrying a little - or a lot.

Now he is worried that if the UK extradites him to the US for espionage he will be 
killed "Jack Ruby-style" - a reference to the man who killed Lee Harvey Oswald before he could stand trial for the murder of President John F Kennedy.
The Kennedy assassination and then-murder of his shooter has been fodder for conspiracy theorists since it happened in 1963.
A Christmas Party For Hitler

A Christmas Party For Hitler

Dec 24 2010 | comment(s)

Things probably looked rather good for Germany in 1941.   Hitler hadn't been wrong yet and Regular Army leaders like Guderian had make him look smart, with runaway successes through the low countries and France - meanwhile, he believed it would take years for the U.S. to mobilize for war and the true morass of the Russian campaign was not known yet.
The Evil URL Shortener

The Evil URL Shortener

Dec 23 2010 | comment(s)

It turns out I am not the only person suspicious of "URL shorteners" designed to make very long links into shorter, manageable ones.    On a service like Twitter, where communications are limited to 140 characters, shorteners are absolutely necessary and utilities like TweetDeck build them in for you automatically.

For people you know, shorteners are obviously fine, because there is an element of trust.   For strangers, though, I never click on shortened URLs because the URL can usually tell me something about the link.
New Zealand Opens Up Its UFO Files

New Zealand Opens Up Its UFO Files

Dec 23 2010 | comment(s)

Every government has UFO files.   That doesn't mean they have aliens hidden in secret, underground lairs or futuristic spaceships being studied, but they have various claims of UFOs by citizens.

UFO technically still means just unidentified - the kookier sorts infer that always to mean alien flying saucers.
CIA WikiLeaks Task Force: WTF??

CIA WikiLeaks Task Force: WTF??

Dec 23 2010 | comment(s)

Really, no one needs to add anything to the title to make it funnier but the fact that the CIA, with its vast store of intellectual talent, didn't figure its WikiLeaks Task Force and acronym WTF would get chuckles in the Internet age makes it that much more humorous.

The WikiLeaks Task Force is no laughing matter, of course - it was created to ferret out the source of 250,000 leaked U.S. diplomatic cables and determine their impact, and it was also partly created because WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is an annoying prat.
For moonwalking robots, jumping is better

For moonwalking robots, jumping is better

Dec 19 2010 | comment(s)

Atsuo Takanishi from Waseda University in Tokyo says that walking on the moon is harder than running due to the low gravity - and for robots even worse.   

His work simulates robotic movement in low gravity and he has determined the solution to keeping robots like the WABIAN-2R bipedal robot moving may be jumping with 'feet' together rather than leaping from foot to foot.

New Scientist has the story.
Is Cosmic Reincarnation and the idea of a Pre-Big Bang universe dead?

Is Cosmic Reincarnation and the idea of a Pre-Big Bang universe dead?

Dec 19 2010 | comment(s)

A widely publicized report that cosmic microwave background, the glow left over from the explosive start of the universe believed to have occurred 13.7 billion years ago, contains echoes of previous cycles of cosmic birth and death, has been disputed by new analyses.

Three teams state that circular patterns do exist but are entirely consistent with the leading model for the birth of the universe, known as inflation, and do not require an alternative, pre–Big Bang theory. According to inflation, the universe began as a subatomic entity that ballooned in size during the first tiny fraction of a second of its existence.
Good samaritans rescue deer from river, get a fine

Good samaritans rescue deer from river, get a fine

Dec 18 2010 | comment(s)

In the 'government employees become so entrenched in their bureaucracy they lose common sense' department, a group of people who rescued a deer from an icy river were given tickets by a "natural resources" police officer, whatever that is - for not stopping to put on life preservers before doing getting in the boat.
“And he didn’t say anything,” Jim Hart said. “We went in and out of the water numerous times. He didn’t stop us at all.”
Scientists as the Spirits of Climates Past

Scientists as the Spirits of Climates Past

Dec 17 2010 | comment(s)

Although people may not feel particularly overheated after this week’s Midwestern snowstorm, data from NASA show that the 12-month period from November 2009 to November 2010 was the warmest on record since 1880.

Mount Toba - largest volcanic eruption in human history didn't cause a 1,000 year winter

Mount Toba - largest volcanic eruption in human history didn't cause a 1,000 year winter

Dec 17 2010 | comment(s)

The largest known volcanic eruption in human history, 74,000 years ago, was at Mount Toba in northern Sumatra.   Researchers believed this cloud of millions of metric tons of volcanic ash and sulfur set off a volcanic winter which included a thousand years of cold climate and perhaps a human genetic 'bottleneck' which may have reduced our species to just a few thousand mating pairs.

Other hypotheses have believed it may have been other volcanoes and they were even responsible for the demise of neanderthals.   
Like the Internet the way it is? Thank a Republican

Like the Internet the way it is? Thank a Republican

Dec 16 2010 | comment(s)

Science bloggers may regard Republicans as anti-science but it is hard not to see them as pro-technology.   While the FCC, with the support of the Obama administration, has repeatedly attempted to make Internet regulation the domain of government, Republican Senators are standing in the way of the one thing still working in the US economy.

In a letter they write