Ask Kat, and you shall receive…
- The actions of a domestic cat have thrown up a new theory about ancient stone burial cairns in Catness … er, I mean, Caithness.
- A 2000-year-old piece of paper inscribed with legible handwriting has been found in China.
- A handicraft workshop more than 3600 years old has been discovered in China’s Henan Province.
- A centuries-old Qing Dynasty vase smashed to pieces by a museum visitor tripping over their untied shoelaces has been restored.
- New archaeological research contradicts Tim Flannery’s theory that Aborigines wiped out Australia’s megafauna. Coming soon, Megawombat vs Godzilla.
- US researchers have taken a mouse almost 500 million years back in time by reversing the process of evolution. If they had’ve gone the other way, we’d have a super-evolved mouse that could tell us the meaning of life.
- Scientists have developed a new type of human genome map that could one day lead to breakthroughs in personalised medicine. And weapons.
- The over-fishing of our oceans has caused an explosive proliferation of jellyfish worldwide. Jellyfish instead of Jaws doesn’t quite have the same effect.
- The 70-mile-long Pacific dead zone, water unable to sustain marine life due to low oxygen, is getting bigger.
- Satellites show Greenland’s ice is melting at record speeds.
- Millions of Chinese farmers face misery and starvation as drought conditions worsen.
- Despite the fossil fuel crisis, people continue to consume power at record rates, and air conditioners are to blame.
- Can an ice-powered air conditioner help ease the USA’s ridiculously high consumption of power in summer?
- Is MIT’s Manhattan Project — developing technologies such as solar cells made of spinach, plasma-powered turbo engines, and algae-based biofuel — the answer to our Global Warming woes?
- Environmental groups have warned that corrosion inside a BP oil pipeline from the Caspian Sea to Turkey could cause a massive oil spill.
- British Petroleum’s pipeline troubles in Alaska should concern us all.
- How does an oil pipeline get corroded anyway? There aren’t enough bears in Alaska to pee on it.
- Soldiers are getting sick of the amount of medication they must take to avoid the dangers of depleted uranium in war zones.
- If you have hair-like coloured fibres running through your skin, then you may have Morgellons Disease.
- Is there a conspiracy to cover-up the truth about Morgellons Disease?
- The Centre for Disease Control is investigating, but can they be trusted?
- Is Popular Mechanics guilty of nepotism, bias, shoddy research and agenda-driven politics regading the 9/11 event?
- Here’s YouTube video of CNN’s Lou Dobbs and an investigation into the US Government’s ineptitude and obfuscation in light of 9/11.
- On a lighter note, President Bush has permitted himself the power to grant himself more power.
- A review of Senator Byron Dorgan’s book, Take This Job and Ship It: How Corporate Greed and Brain-Dead Politics Are Selling Out America (Amazon US or UK). Dorgan believes we are engaged in “a contest for the soul of a great nation, with immense ramifications for the entire world.”
- Here’s another review of Dorgan’s manifesto. Looks like a good book.
- The reason why news agencies must be careful when buying photographs from freelancers.
- If you find photoshopping your penis to make it larger too dishonest, then here’s an entertaining article discussing the options available. Don’t look at me, Kat sent me this link.
- Researchers cast the misery of migraines in a new light.
- Changes in manufacturing processes are making Western food toxic and addictive, leading to more obesity amongst children. Gee, I wonder if the addition of addictive ingredients is an accident?
- But just to confuse us, researchers also tell us the most effective way of losing weight is not to try.
- Getting older and crankier may mean you’re smarter than the average bear. I’m a super-genius!
- A two-year survey of enormous interstellar dust clouds has revealed eight organic molecules in two different regions of space. Eight is the magic number.
- Will the cosmic computer philosophy help revolutionise our understanding of the universe? Here’s hoping it’s a Mac.
- August 12th was IBM’s 25th birthday by the way, a company many believe is responsible for the hideous beige colour we suffered with for over a decade.
- The India Daily says alien civilisations populate the M87 giant elliptical galaxy in order to use the black hole at its center.
- A Sri Lankan couple photographed a UFO in Bahrain.
- Is it connected to a UFO spotted hovering above the Tree of Life in Bahrain recently. Here’s a Wikipedia entry if you’re wondering what that is.
- Water flowing from a red oak tree more than 100 years old has experts completely baffled.
- Iraqis ignore the local dentist in favour of a miracle tree known as the Nail Tree.
- Burt Rutan talks about civilian spaceflight and gives us a look inside SpaceShip Two.
- A Norwegian pioneer has successfully sailed a traditional raft from Peru to the island of Tahiti.
- Either they’ve read one Koji Suzuki horror novel too many, or this office in Japan really is haunted by ghosts.
- Traditions, folklore and rational explanations for ghosts in Southeast Asia.
- A museum in Malaysia seeks ghost experts for a paranormal exhibition.
- A brilliant article discussing the alchemist who thought he could fly: the 16th century mystery of John Damian.
- Chuck Norris has the most votes in a poll to name a new bridge in Budapest, Hungary.
- Feeling nostalgic for your 1980s action heroes? Sylvester Stallone is returning in Rambo IV. That they chose Burma is a good thing, it’s a country rife with humans rights abuses that most people ignore. I highly recommend the Burma Campaign for information.
Thanks to my fabulous assistant Kat, and Hoo.
Quote of the Day:
“We’re pushing the oceans back to the dawn of evolution, a half-billion years ago when the oceans were ruled by jellyfish and bacteria.”
Jeremy Jackson, Marine Ecologist at the Scripps Insitution of Oceanography.
