Biggest Living Thing

A 2,200 acre sized fungus that is about 2,400 years old.

Really Big Diamond

And you thought the Star of Africa was big.

Mariners Report Appearance of New Island

Mariners in the South Pacific have reported the emergence from the sea of a new volcanic island near Tonga. According to the ship's blog, the mariners saw "streaks of light, porous pumice stone floating in the water -- then 'sailed into a vast, many-miles-wide belt of densely packed pumice.'"

The Definitions of a Planet

The International Astronomical Union has proposed a new definition of the word "Planet". Under the new definition, which is basically "round and orbity", as this article puts it, there would be as many as 53 bodies in our solar system that would be classified as planets.

Earth's Gravity

Scientisits have determined that the 9.1-magnitude December 2004 Sumatra-Andaman earthquake changed the Earth's gravity by altering the geometry of the region for thousands of square miles.

Source article

Nebraska's Sand Hills

Short article on how they formed.

New Type of Volcano Discovered

Read all about it.

The Speed of Sight

There is an interesting article regarding how quickly visual information is transferred from the eyes to the brain. It includes a hypothesis that there is a two-tiered system of nerves - the brisk and sluggish nerve pathways that both transfer information, but at different speeds. The sluggish nerves transfer standard information, while the brisk nerves transfer information regarding danger much more quickly. The explanation for the sluggish pathway is that the brisk pathways consumes much more energy, while the sluggish consumes less and doesn't need to be any faster. The study appears to lack an explanation of how the retina would "know" what information to pass down each pathway. This would appear to require that the retina be "smart" and push some cognitive ability out to it, much the way some such "decision making" is said to reside in the spinal cord.

Source article

Waterproof Paper

In what sounds like another version of "This is How the 3M Post-It Note Got Invented", here is a video report on how one scientist discovered how to make waterproof paper. (By the way, 3M is a really cool company, in case you were wondering :-))

An unusual gemstone in one of Tutankhamun's necklaces has apparently been determined to be glass that is older than the earliest Egyptian civilization. This discovery led to the discovery of glass chunks scattered across a remote region of the Sahara desert. The glass was formed at a temperature so hot that only a meteor impact could have caused it. There were no traces of an impact site, though. Thus, scientists have come to the conclusion that there was a Tunguska Event-esque above Ancient Egypt that formed the glass. Others have found evidence of a similar, yet more powerful, airburst above southeast Asia 800,000 years ago.

Source article.

Nicotine and Cancer

Scientists identify reason nicotine accelerates the spread of cancer. Apparently, the fact that nicotine accelerates the spread of cancer has been known for sometime . . . . just not to me ;-)

Source article

PETA

"People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals?" . . . No
"People who like Eating Tasty Animals"? . . . No
"Prince who likes Eating Tasty Animals?" . . . YES!

In an interview with the Danish magazine Ud&Se, the 72-year-old Prince Consort of Denmark, Prince Henrik, a Frenchman by birth, who happens also to be the Honorary President of the Danish Dachshund Club, has stated that he has enjoyed eating dog meat since the time he spent growing up and studying in Vietnam. He invited Danes to try eating dog meat themselves. "I do not mind eating dog meat at all," he said.

"The dogs I eat have been bred to be eaten anyway, just like chickens. . . Dog meat tastes like rabbit. Like dried baby goat. Or perhaps - I know! - like veal. Like the veal of a baby suckling calf, only drier. He said the meat tasted best when it was sauteed or grilled and cut into thin slices.

As if this weren't enough, the Prince owns several dachshunds and, despite publishing a cookery book called Ikke Altid Gaselever (Not Always Goose Liver), has even published eulogies to them.

A book of Prince Henrik's poems, in which he praised his dogs, was published last year. A poem to his dachshund Evita compares her paws to 'wings.' "I love to stroke your coat and to see how it shines/ You dear, you special dog..../ You receive me with papal pride."

Since the prince's admission in the magazine Ud&Se, Danish newspapers have reopened their files on a royal dachshund that disappeared from Amalienborg palace, Copenhagen, in the early 1990s. Despite a countrywide search, it never reappeared.

By the way, the Prince also recommends that parents raise their children using techniques of dog training.

Paper

One ton of recycled paper saves:

• 4,200 kilowatt-hours of electricity
• 7,000 gallons of water
• 100 gallons of gasoline
• 60 pounds of air pollution

I've heard that recycling paper is actually counter-productive because of the amount of gasoline it takes to transport it to a recycling center and then the energy required to actually recycle it. Of course, the benefit of not using more trees would not be negated. Does anyone know if this is true? I don't exactly have the time to poke around looking for hard numbers on this one.

Undersea Volcano

Just thought this was a cool story that you all may enjoy.

Africa Splitting Apart to Form New Ocean

Africa will apparently lose its horn in about 10 million years.