inkycircus

I want a baby panda

Breeding wild animals in captivity is sadly very difficult. So when a new baby is born it's a special event - and particularly so when the baby is as cute as this one. This little guy is Tai Shan (aka Peaceful Mountain) - the newest addition to the Washington National Zoo. He met the media today, and is due to meet his adoring public next week. The 13,000 available tickets sold out within hours, but if I was anywhere near Washington I would have queued to get one for sure. Have a look at the Baby Panda Photo Gallery and you'll see what I mean. Read more about the pandas in the zoo and watch the totally fantastic Pandacam with sound here.

Mega-scorpion walked on land

I have a minor phobia about Creatures From The Deep. Something about really deep water makes me start to imagine giant squid and other over-sized beasties miles below my feet. Can't really swim off boats without thinking I'm about to be pulled to my watery grave, and as for buoys tethered to chains that stretch away into the blackness? Don't even go there.

So a recent discovery this week of tracks in Scotland made by an aquatic creature crawling onto land 330 million years ago gives me the creeps. In theory this means woo hoo for archaeology and the progression of science as we weren't sure before if Hibbertopterus could live on land. That's its name, by the way. But to me it makes me thank my lucky stars I live in the age of Starbucks and Ipods rather than back when the earth was young. Because they think them there tracks were made by a scorpion. A big one. From the sea. 5 feet long and 3 feet wide. If that's not enough to give you the heeby jeebies I don't know what is. Brr.

More on the story from MSNBC here, and Yahoo! News here.

(PS I was going to put a picture of a land scorpion here because those things are properly nasty. But they were too nasty so I couldn't. This pic is a sea scorpion instead, which is more realistic. Picture one of these things 5 feet long and covered in scaly plates. Eurgh.)

science newsflash 30.11.05

• Currents in Atlantic are weakening
• The paralysed could be helped by nose cells
• Radar sees ice in Mars
• Monkeys have accents too
• Creative geniuses have better sex

An upside to bird flu? Or not?

Turns out that you can make really good bio diesel from chicken fat. Soooooooo all those millions and millions of chickens that will eventually be slaughtered to quell the spread of bird flu may end up in your gas tank! Bonus! I am just banking on the chicken fat refining process being relatively antiseptic, hence killing off any virus before it gets pumped out of car exhaust pipes (now there's a mode of transmission I bet the WHO hasn't begun to think about).

But seriously, the chicken fat bio diesel could be a great green wonder. Lower carbon and particulate emissions and reduced dependence on oil reserves. Most non-petroleum fuels are soy based, which frankly just ends up hiking the price of soy oil in cooking circles. But chicken fat is an almost unused by-product AND it seems to be better for engines - all that yummy, greasy lubrication.

Downside, however, is that when the fat is of lower grade (less fat and more fatty acids) the refining process yield lots of soap. Yup, soap. So we don't know if the process will turn out to be economical in the end...says Professor Michael Poop (childish snicker).

Why "Love Molecule" will never become a term of endearment

Someone at the Yahoo! copy headline writing department has a lot to answer for: "Baby, you make my 'Love Molecule' soar." That's right, a bunch of scientists in Italy have discovered that the hormone nerve growth factor (NGF) is off the charts in people who have just fallen in love. The jacked up levels seem to last for a year, when they plummet to single person/long-term couple concentrations.

And shocker, they don't know what it does. But it might turn out to be something cool like oxytocin. We used to think oxytocin was just some orgasm/breastfeeding girly bonding thing, but it turns out to be the ULTIMATE TRUST COMPOUND and likely has a lot to do with human's confusing propensity for co-operation.

So maybe NGF will explain why some people seem to loose ALL TOUCH WITH REALITY when they start dating someone new (see photo for example).Then again, maybe some people lost all touch with reality a long long time ago (see photo for example).

 

Vintage NASA babes

I love NASA. If NASA were a beverage, I'd drink it over Dr. Pepper on hot desert road trips. If it were a condiment I'd slather it over my veggie dog. But instead NASA is a space agency, with a website wholly devoted to Great Images In NASA (GRIN), a collection of over a thousand images of "significant historical interest" in hi-res for your viewing pleasure. Best of all, its women category just goes to show that nothing is new, least of all our whole chic geek, nerdtastic femme thing. Here's my bandwidth gratuitous selection:

(INSPECTION INSTITUTE AERONAUTICAL SCIENCE GROUP)

(DIFFERENTIAL ANALYZER)

(WOMAN IN SUPER SEXY HEELS AT THE MANOMETER BOARD SETUP IN SUPERSONIC WIND TUNNEL)

(THE SUPER SEXY HEELS BLOWN UP BECAUSE THEN WE CAN ALL FANTASIZE ABOUT SASHAYING AROUND A SUPERSONIC WIND TUNNEL LOOKING THAT HOT BETTER)

Flickr jump started by commie Canadian government grant

Who doesn't love Flickr at this point. You either broadcast your snaps or stalk other's. That pretty much sums up my take on Flickr. That is until I read that it was founded by a Vancouver duo who used a Canadian government grant to start the ball rolling. To which I say, Canada, you kick ass - even if your government's gone to pot.

Here's the telescoped deal.

Ludicorp began as a Vancouver based company founded by husband wife duo, Stewart Butterfield and Catarina Fake, in 2002 with a boost from a government grant. Their corporate philosophy gives Google's a run for their money: "The goal is to kick ass." They were into massively multiplayer online games. They encouraged gamers to post photos. They developed FlickrLive, a multiuser chat room for sharing photos. In February of 2004 Flickr proper emerged. In March of 2005 Yahoo! bought Flickr for truckloads of money, $40 million to be exact. Today there are 1.5 million loyal users who have uploaded a total of 60 million photos. It's new owners expect to rake in the moolah. Like any decent company, Flickr's got a blog too.

kiss of death

I joke a lot about my allergies, even though some day they might kill me. Needless to say I didn't laugh very hard when I read this report of a Quebec girl that DIED after kissing her boyfriend, who had previously eaten a peanut butter sandwich. Like NINE HOURS before. This poor girl must have had one of the highest sensitivities to peanut proteins that doctors have ever seen.

The holidays are coming up, which means lots of cookies and nut-infested cakes and canapes. So I say to all you revelers: think about what you've just eaten before you stand yourselves under that mistletoe. A lot more could be on the line than just your dignity.

Who needs a hug?

If you've ever text messaged or chatted on an instant messenger online you'll probably know lots of the lingo. ROTFL means 'rolling on the floor laughing'. TTFN means 'ta ta for now'. If you want to be extra affectionate over the wires, you've got codes such as KOTL (kiss on the lips) or the more chaste KOTC (kiss on the cheek). If you want to send a hug, however, up till now you had only such tools as HUGZ or *hug*, or even HAK (hugs and kisses) at your disposal. Not any more. A clever chap in Singapore called Mr Teh has figured out how to make a jacket for a chicken that responds to signals sent over the internet, and contracts to give the chicken a hug. He thinks it will be terribly useful for far apart family or friends who want to feel the human touch over the net. I think he's probably right. Just why he tested his prototype on a chicken is not quite so clear at present... Answers on a postcard please.

If you want to learn how to speak instant messaging go to Netlingo here.
More on the story in the Guardian Unlimited here.

science newsflash 29.11.05

• Scientists figure out how bees stay up
• Texture is what makes nasty food yukky
• Lady lizards don't like agressive sex
• Insects are the real success story of earth
• Future of UK Space sector in the balance