Science Etcetera, Mercuryday 20090603

Posted in Science Etcetera on June 3rd, 2009

With Antarctica being one-and-a-half times bigger than the United States, scientists tracking Emperor Penguin populations have had a difficult time; however, by looking for reddish-brown poop stains on the ice via satellite they can locate them.

Penguin Poo from Space

Children with imaginary friends are better at communicating with adults. The hypothesis is that these children are exercising their understanding of other peoples’ perspectives in order to direct their imaginary friend’s actions. Evidence suggests these children grow up to be more creative, achievement-oriented, and emotionally responsive.

Survey finds that we replace half of our friends every seven years.

Astronauts need to be careful of space headaches, which more that 2/3rds of veteran astronauts have suffered from and might be brought on by microgravity, which reduces oxygen in the blood and increases blood flow to the head.

Slideshow of astronauts stepping out of perfectly good spacecraft.

1984 Untethered Spacewalk
Credit: National Air & Space Museum

Chaos theory at work as researchers plugged initial numbers into their swine flu models, based on data from the Where’s George? website, that were too low, resulting in an estimate of 2,500 cases in America by the end of May, while the CDC now estimates there are over 100,000.

Nakabayashi is a 2,000 person company in Tokyo that provides book-binding services, and they have a $95k machine that turns office paper into toilet paper on site.

Unwed teens and women in their 20s who have attended private religious schools are more likely to obtain abortions than those who attend public schools.

Tiger & Monkey Fight