Not settled after all partial genetic explaination of eye color. it's not one classic dominant/recessive allele a la the monk Mendel. three known + unknown genes involved, everybody's still beautiful.
posted by longsleeves
on Dec 8, 2005 -
19 comments
Time to replace your old Periodic Table. ...a joint American-Russian team has found two new elements—numbers 113 and 115 on the periodic table—hinting at an impending breakthrough in creating novel forms of matter that will test our understanding of atomic behavior.
posted by mcgraw
on Mar 29, 2004 -
15 comments
Mutant Rats are Here! Farms in Kyrgyzstan are being overrun with rats that do not respond to the usual poison and target people. It was created in a (mad scientist's?) lab. Apocalypse Now?
posted by billsaysthis
on Sep 22, 2003 -
34 comments
The Pale Horse Percentage. The demise of civilization has been predicted since it began, but the odds of keeping
Planet Earth alive and well are getting worse amid a breakneck pace of scientific advances, according to
Martin Rees, Britain's honorary astronomer royal. Rees calculates that the odds of an apocalyptic disaster striking Earth have risen to about 50 percent from 20 percent a hundred years ago.
posted by The Jesse Helms
on Jun 9, 2003 -
21 comments
'A colossal squid has been caught in Antarctic waters, the first example of Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni retrieved virtually intact from the surface of the ocean. ' Related (old news from January) :-
giant squid attacks boat.
More squid sites :-
Search for Giant Squid,
a Smithsonian exhibit about a 1999 expedition. 'Whether living or extinct, on land or at sea, in literature or in life, large animals have long fascinated people. The largest animals have been known and hunted since prehistory: whales, walruses, elephants, rhinos, hippos, giraffes, and large fishes... However, one large animal has gone almost unnoticed or certainly unobserved in its habitat. That animal is the giant squid. Although these animals have been found in the nets of commercial fishermen, in the stomachs of sperm whales, and washed ashore on different continents, no scientific information has been gathered by direct observations of live giant squid ... '
The UnMuseum's article on the giant squid.
posted by plep
on Apr 3, 2003 -
23 comments
Know what time it is, Kidz?
It's U.S. Department of Justice Time!
On today's show, we'll learn why
Hacking is REAL BAD, and give you a chance to find out if you are a
good cybercitizen. Next, we'll meet
Axel, the talking drug dog, and his friends
the Bomb Dog Bunch! Then, we'll check in on the ATF, for some
cool science fair ideas.
And finally, just for you kids with crooks or international terrorists for parents, here's a nifty
PDF coloring book (
Native American version also available).
posted by eatitlive
on Feb 25, 2003 -
11 comments
Happy Darwin Day! Darwin Day is February 12th, the date of birth of Charles Darwin in the year 1809, at Shrewsbury, England. On this date, and throughout the month, people from all over the world are honoring the life, work and influence of Charles Darwin with events and activities which celebrate humanity and the science in our lives.
While you're celebrating you may want to see who has won
awards in his name or perhaps
buy a sticker or see if there's a darwinday event
near you
posted by bitdamaged
on Feb 12, 2003 -
15 comments
Evolution is a process that hasn't stopped just because humans now rule the planet. What will animals look like in 200,000 years? The Discovery Channel's
Animal Planet asks experts to predict the future of life on Earth.
posted by hipnerd
on Dec 31, 2002 -
38 comments
Rock n Roll! We know that Sex and Drugs ain't good for us, but researchers at McGill University are using very fancy devices to learn how our brains react to music. (Probably not much to discuss, but it's an interesting article)
posted by adamms222
on Nov 27, 2002 -
6 comments
As the day after Labor Day is traditionally the first day of School for many of us in the USA, I offer you
froguts.com - virtual online frog dissection. All the educational parts of biology class without the nauseating smell of formaldehyde.
posted by anastasiav
on Sep 3, 2002 -
10 comments
Reality catches up a bit with scifi through a new Chicago startup called Arryx, who is developing the first commercial tractor beam. Tractor beams are
nothing new at mefi, but this is a major step up from
last year's story. One, it's graduated the technology from the nanoscopic application to cellular-level microscopic levels. Two, this is destined to be an actual commercial product. The technology is licensed to the company from the university where it was developed, my very own alma-mater,
The University of Chicago :)
[link via ArsTechnica]
posted by LuxFX
on Sep 1, 2002 -
3 comments
A computer aided simulation builds a spiral galaxy from
its beginning. In all, 390,000 particles were placed in an arrangement similar to a newborn galaxy. The end result after three months is an event that is believed to take billions of years to occur.
(animation)
posted by samsara
on Aug 7, 2002 -
7 comments
"We think of an orange as a constant, but in reality it's not." Canadian study finds that fruits and vegetables have lost much of their nutritional value in the last decades--potatoes, for example, have lost 100% of their Vitamin A. The reason, it appears, is mass production and a market that values appearance over substance. Is this symptomatic of deeper problems within a system where produce travels so far before reaching the consumer? Here in B.C., for example, the stores are full of California produce, despite the fact that we grow much the same fruits and vegetables locally.
posted by jokeefe
on Jul 6, 2002 -
17 comments
Musicians are really smart. They have larger and more sensitive brains than non-musicians, and their collective IQ is much higher. They have 130% more grey matter in one area of their auditory cortexes. The question of how this explains Ozzy Osbourne nonwithstanding, I'll bet if you're really, really smart, you could be
one of the new members of Men Without Hats. Must be very knowledgeable in midi, sequences, and sampling.
posted by iconomy
on Jun 25, 2002 -
18 comments
Close to home? Worried about transport of nuclear waste? Find out how close to your home it'll pass with this handy map.
In my case, it'll be transported on train tracks that I can see and hear from my bedroom...
posted by delmoi
on Jun 15, 2002 -
24 comments
Controversial new bill to lay out reproductive technology guidelines. Canadian version of this battle doesn't seem to feature as many religious wackos. It's just not as fun without them.
posted by Leonard
on May 9, 2002 -
0 comments
Huge hydrogen stores found below Earth's crust. "Scientists have discovered vast quantities of hydrogen gas, widely regarded as the most promising alternative to today's dwindling stocks of fossil fuels, lying beneath the Earth's crust. The discovery has stunned energy experts, who believe that it could provide virtually limitless supplies of clean fuel for cars, homes and industry." This discovery sounds too good to be true (for us energy-hungry humans that is, bad news for the bacteria.)
posted by homunculus
on Apr 15, 2002 -
29 comments
Professor becomes world's first cyborg Surgeons have carried out a ground-breaking operation on a cybernetics professor so that his nervous system can be wired up to a computer.
It is hoped that the procedure could lead to a medical breakthrough for people paralysed by spinal cord damage, like Superman actor Christopher Reeve.
Prof Warwick believes it also opens up the possibility of a sci-fi world of cyborgs, where the human brain can one day be upgraded with implants for extra memory, intelligence or X-ray vision.
The medical possibilities with this are amazing, so why does it make me feel so uneasy?
posted by Tarrama
on Mar 22, 2002 -
24 comments
Growing meat in a laboratory may seem like a good idea. They evey suggest that it might stop us "having to slaughter animals for food." But, to do it, they have to soak the meat in the blood of unborn baby cows.... Somehow, that doesn't sound right.....
posted by dwivian
on Mar 21, 2002 -
26 comments
