Science Etcetera, Mercuryday 20080611

June 11th, 2008

Our feline friends domesticated themselves, and other interesting facts about Cats.

Cat Conspiracy
Credit: Tjflex2

Umbilical cord blood stem cells have apparently cured a fatal genetic disease in a 2-year-old boy (HT Clint).

London’s Royal Botanical Gardens offers a new perspective, a walk over the treetops (HT TGAW).

Farmers are waiting for better weather to plant their crops, but if they plant after June 20th they may see yields drop by half.

Shoppers are willing to pay a third more for some foods, if they are grown locally.

Retired physician and amateur astronomer, Richard Green’s incredible collection of antique science texts is up for auction. You can get a copy of Nicolaus Copernicus’s De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium for between $900,000 and $1.2 million.

Plant a tree today and 25 years from now your children will thank you for saving them energy with a cooler yard.

The fisher is a relative of the wolverine, once endangered, is now making a comeback in the Northeast, eating porcupines and housepets.

Fisher Martes pennanti
Credit: New York State Education Department

Britain requires anyone who wants to watch public television to have a broadcast license. To enforce this law, they needed television detectors to catch people watching the boob-tube illegally.

Nanopaper is stronger than cast iron.

Some plants show nepotism to their relatives.

A Ford F-250 will cost you $100,000 over five years in gas, interest, taxes, and insurance.

Cuttlefish can spot prey while still an embryo.

Just 10 more flights until the space shuttle is retired, but Congress is considering tacking on one more flight to carry a physics experiment into space.

AAAS Response to Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed: