Science Etcetera, Marsday 20080527

May 27th, 2008

Rockefeller scientists have found a way to watch HIV particles assembling on the surface of an infected cell (Video Here (but I don’t know for how long)).

HIV Particles in a Cell

Prius sales have hit one million, saving 450 million tons of Carbon.

A woman came back to life after going 17 hours without brainwaves. She was dead long enough for rigor mortis to set in (HT Clint).

A new book explores the fascinating and sad life of Nim Chimpsky (a play on Noam Chompsky), a chimpanzee raised with humans and taught sign language to see if other animals could learn language.

The more Biblically literal the faith, the lower the average IQ of its members. Episcopals rock!

Oh Great! Now peak Internet Protocol Addresses as the Internet will run out of IPs in three years.

Very cool visual display for car navigation system that runs a red line on your windshield showing the path you’ll take. This is good for idiots like me who almost get into accidents trying to figure out what’s showing on the GPS.

It took life on Earth billions of years to figure out how to eat cellulose, before which, trees did not decay. Now a 16-year-old has isolated microbes that eats plastic, which is brimming with energy-dense hydrocarbons.

Odd photo essay of a Russian artillery experiment with a pig. My apologies for the Muppets reference in the caption.

Piiiiiiiiiiigs iiiiiiiin Spaaaaaaaace!!!!

Bush signed it, the Genetic Nondiscrimination act is law. I’m sure he had some unreported signing statement allowing Cheney to continue drinking our collective mortal blood.

Vast cracks in ice as thick as a 10-story building have appeared in the Arctic ice.

The Pantheon of Brains collected those of Russian geniuses in hopes of finding what makes the special.

A 150-year-old monkey puzzle tree is in danger of being chopped down because some feel its “syringe-like needles” pose a health and safety threat. Ninnies.

64-year-old Michel Fournier intends to sky dive 25 miles, breaking the sound barrier as well as numerous records, like the one for the most people wondering, “Are you #$%&ing crazy!?!?”

Survivalists are preparing for peak oil. I say we create a google map mashup so we know who to raid for supplies when civilization collapses.

With the LHC going online soon, it’s important to remember that America almost built a bigger one, but Congress axed it $15 Billion into the project. Now we have a $15 billion hole in the ground.

The Pheonix has landed (with photos)!!! Here’s a video of what it should have looked like:

One comment to “Science Etcetera, Marsday 20080527”

Thank you, America, for abandoning the Superconducting Super Collider, further flushing our scientific relevance down the toilet. Oh well, at least we’ve got the Phoenix success (it is awesome that the MRO took a photo of the descending lander as it parachuted towards the surface: http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu/05_26_pr.php).

I remember when I first read about the abandoned supercollider, there was a good photo of the “bigass hole” that really conveyed how much of a waste it was. I think this is it:

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/188/479440949_b2e0bf5721_o.jpg
by Dave May 27th, 2008 at 7:08 am