The Fount of Useless Information
Your place for useless information that just might possibly be interesting.
Microbial Life In An Undersea Volcano, New Limits Of Life Defined
http://planetsave.com/2012/08/07/microbial-life-in-an-undersea-volcano-new-limits-of-life-defined/
The range of environments that life occupies here on Earth makes it clear to me that life _must be_ ubiquitous in the universe. While everything on Earth has, …
How Bias Heats Up the Warming Debate
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444405804577558973445002552.html
Yes, it is the WSJ and yes it can be easily interpreted as ‘anti-global warming’, but I think the article has a great deal to offer. As I have lamented many times …
Cancer Stem Cells May Be Responsible For Tumor Growth
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/248537.php
A very interesting concept and one that, if proven to be true, basically means that all our efforts in the last 40+ years to combat cancer have been totally wasted. …
The Brain Set Free
Lifting neural constraints could turn back time, making way for youthful flexibility
http://www.sciencenews.org/view/feature/id/342559/title/The_Brain_Set_Free
It is interesting to me that it might be practical to ‘soften’ the brain a bit to allow for learning complex new subject …
NASA: Strange and sudden massive melt in Greenland
The abnormally warm weather is causing meltdowns even in Greenland’s highest and coldest places
http://www.salon.com/2012/07/25/nasa_strange_and_sudden_massive_melt_in_greenland/
I read this yesterday but wasn’t motivated to post at the time. To me this is just …
Artist makes satellite at home in just $500
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tech/personal-tech/computing/Artist-makes-satellite-at-home-in-just-500/articleshow/15162830.cms
This is the second time an article has got me thinking about the idea of micro satellites. Ten thousand dollars a pound sounds prohibitively expensive unless you can engineer ways to …
Catching a Cancer
Viral culprits may explain a host of tumors with as-yet unknown triggers
http://www.sciencenews.org/view/feature/id/342223/title/Catching_a_Cancer
This is really interesting to me as it helps explain a lot of observed information. I have know that certain viruses unambiguously cause certain …
Moon patterns explained
Electric fields enveloping magnetic bubbles create lunar swirls
http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/342189/title/Moon_patterns_explained
This article makes me think that some sort of shield against high energy particles might be practical, though it is hard to judge the weight at this point. …
Native Americans arrived to find natives already there, fossil poo shows
Ancient darts also found in possible prehistoric pub
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/07/13/clovis_not_first_says_paisley_caves_excrement/
The Register takes a rather excessively light hearted approach to reporting, but at least they do report on some interesting …
Computer Simulation Cracks Chicken-Egg Puzzle
New tech reveals how a protein kickstarts the formation of calcium carbonate particles.
http://news.discovery.com/tech/computer-simulation-cracks-chicken-egg-puzzle.html
I have always thought it had to be the chicken that came first because the egg can’t lay itself while it …