Ze Science, Eet Is Cool

Roman medicine found in a shipwreck:

[...]

Within the kit, the archaeologists found a bleeding cup, a surgery hook and a mortar. They also recovered 136 drug vials made of boxwood and several tin containers carrying circular, flat green tablets -- each about three centimeters wide and half a centimeter thick. Because they were sealed, the pills were completely dry even though they had been laying on the sea floor for millennia.

[...]

After comparing the sequences to the GenBank genetic database maintained by the US National Institutes of Health, he identified many plants typical of a vegetable garden, including carrot, radish, parsley, celery, wild onion and cabbage. Alfalfa, yarrow and the more exotic hibiscus were also part of the mix.

"The plants match those described in ancient texts such as those by the ancient Greek physicians Dioscorides and Galen. However, more work has to be done since we do not have the complete sequence for each plant, but only fragments which could belong to other species as well," Touwaide said.

I didn't know that pills had been around for that long....

Science: Still So Cool

(photo taken by Cassini spacecraft, click to enlargimacate)

The big moon is Rhea, seen from 1.2 million kilometers (750,000 miles) away, and the little one below it is Epimetheus, from 1.6 million km (990,000 miles) away. Perspective makes them look right next to each other, but in reality the distance between them is the same as the Moon from the Earth! Saturn and its rings provide the backdrop for this stunning alien portrait.

From here, with more info for the spacially-inclined.

Run For Your Lives!!!

Head for the hills... but not the hills of potatoes.

Petunias and potatoes may actually be carnivorous plants, scientists now suggest.

Them spuds have eyes, and they're a-watchin' ye!

Move Over Disney World

Because Costa Rica is the happiest place on Earth. At least, according to researchers at the Erasmus University of Rotterdam in the Netherlands.

The inhabitants of Costa Rica hold the first position of this classification, with an average of 66.7 happy years of life, followed by Iceland with 66.4 years and Denmark 65 happy years. The United States is listed at 58 years.

So I guess I bought myself 8.7 years of extra happiness by moving here. Hmmm, I guess it would be pro-rated, but still....

I can haz moar happy!

Taking This "Fall" Thing A Bit Too Seriously

Yesterday it was my monitor and coffee press. I'm using the monitor we bought last month, until we can find a good price on a replacement, so I have been able to edit and can now show you an "after" photo of the press:




Today? Raxi (seen here being all innocent and shit):



knocked my plastic travel mug (that the wondrous Lisa gave me) off the counter and the freaking handle broke off. I have no photo of that yet. The pain is too fresh in my mind.

So, anyway, the Autumnal Equinox will be happening on Tuesday (22 Sept) at 21:18 UTC, which will be 5:15pm EDT and 3:18pm here in Central America. I'll be busy after I get back from class tomorrow, putting every. thing. I. own. on the floor -- and keeping the cat away from it all.

Good luck everyone!

Oh, Crap!

Don't try to tell the good folk in Boone, North Carolina global warming isn't real:



Wow!

(and, yes, I know it's just a glitch in the program... or is it?)

I'm All Delimmanated, But I'm Still A-postin' It

According to Teh Google, it's Nikola Tesla's birthday, so they've got this image:


However, according to Wikipedia, his birthday is tomorrow.

So, whichever, he was a visionary scientist (but couldn't take care of finances to save his hide) who doesn't really get the respect he deserves.


"This publicity photo taken at Colorado Springs was a double exposure. Tesla posed with his 'magnifying transmitter' capable of producing millions of volts of electricity. The discharge shown is twenty-two feet in length."
(photo and text via PBS online)

Happy 153rd Birthday, Mr. Tesla, today or tomorrow!!

Science? Still Cool

Prehistoric Bird-Bone Flute Unearthed -- From Discovery News (online)

A bird-bone flute unearthed in a German cave was carved some 35,000 years ago and is the oldest handcrafted musical instrument yet discovered, archaeologists say, offering the latest evidence that early modern humans in Europe had established a complex and creative culture.

So what I wonder is, did the flutist's playing drive her mother to distraction?

SCIENCE!!

Google is at it again, promoting science and stuff. Meet "Ida" (Darwinius masillae), who may well be the long-sought "missing link".

I'm Blinded. By Science.

Okay, I know it's Earth Day, but you've got to see these pictures of Saturn and its moons, courtesy of the Cassini-Huygens space probe (click for the embiggening -- trust me, you want to):





There are 20 more (with descriptive paragraphs) here.

Science: Still Cool

Anyone who says we know it all is full o' shit:

Scientists have found life in an ecosystem trapped underneath a glacier in Antarctica for nearly 2 million years. The microbes, they suggest, are surviving the dark, oxygen-free waters by drawing energy from sulfur and iron. [snip] But how could they have survived for so long, with no light or oxygen? Mikucki and her team uncovered three main clues. First, a genetic analysis of the microbes showed that they were closely related to other microorganisms that use sulfate instead of oxygen for respiration. Second, isotopic analysis of sulfate's oxygen molecules revealed that the microbes were modifying sulfate in some form but not using it directly for respiration. Third, the water was enriched with soluble ferrous iron, which would happen only if the organisms had converted ferric iron, which is insoluble, to the soluble ferrous form. The best explanation, the team reports in tomorrow's issue of Science, is that the organisms use sulfate as a catalyst to "breathe" with ferric iron and metabolize the limited amounts of organic matter trapped with them years ago.

Blood Falls, a small, saltwater outflow from Taylor Glacier's subglacial lake in Antarctica's Dry Valleys,... trickles out at the glacier's end, painting an orange stain across the ice as its iron-rich waters rust upon contact with air.

Science Is Still Cool

(h/t to Brian at Incertus)

This Is Too Cool!

Prototype of the new P.U.M.A. (Personal Urban Mobility & Accessibility) vehicle, developed by GM and Segway. It has a range of up to 35 miles, and will attain speeds of 25 - 35mph.

Wow.

Bet You Never Thought You'd See a Hip-Hop Video At My Place...

HA! Fooled you! This is a SCIENCE video. More info here.

Close Encounters...

So, you may or may not know that Google released Google Earth 5 yesterday. There are several new features, including Google Mars.

I was checking it out last night, and this popped up on my screen:

(click to embiggen)

Contact!!!

Which, of course, makes me think of this:





Klaatu Barada Nicto, Bitchez!!

Moon Bricks

Take some moon dust, add some ground up spaceship, zap the mix with electricity, and presto! Moon bricks. Astronauts living on the moon could someday use such a formula to construct an interlocking, virtually indestructible dome-shaped home. "The habitat would look just like an igloo," said Kathryn Logan, a professor at Virginia Tech involved in the project. "No nails, no cement would be necessary to hold it together. The shape of the bricks will do that."

Science is so cool!!

And now that we don't have an anti-science buffoon in the White House, well, lots of things can now happen.

Wow

The above image (scroll down the page) is not a photoshop or a terrestrial light shining up. In fact, it's not known exactly what it is...

Many people have seen light pillars. They appear during winter when city lights shine upward into the icy air. Reflections from plate-shaped crystals spread the light into a vertical column.

Truhin's pillars, however, are not the ordinary kind. Even two leading experts in atmospheric optics can't quite figure them out...

More pics (and explanation) at the above link....

(h/t to kumatriel)

Happy Anniversary!

To the Mars rovers, Spirit and Opportunity.

It was five years ago today that Spirit touched down and began its 90 day mission. For those keeping score, that was 1827 days (two leap years in that time) ago, which means that Spirit has surpassed the initial functionality by more than 20 times.

Well done, rovers!!

Teh Lair Woods Are So Good For Me

At least according to the results of The paper, "The Cognitive Benefits of Interacting with Nature". Jonah Lehrer of The Frontal Cortex sums it up thusly:

Thoreau would have liked this study: interacting with nature (at least when compared to a hectic urban landscape) dramatically improves cognitive function. In particular, being in natural settings restores our ability to exercise directed attention and working memory, which are crucial mental talents. The basic idea is that nature, unlike a city, is filled with inherently interesting stimuli (like a sunset, or an unusual bird) that trigger our involuntary attention, but in a modest fashion. Because you can't help but stop and notice the reddish orange twilight sky - paying attention to the sunset doesn't take any extra work or cognitive control - our attentional circuits are able to refresh themselves. A walk in the woods is like a vacation for the prefrontal cortex.

My prefrontal cortex and I agree.

Wow

Technology is cool: