Blood Falls
Courtesy US Antarctic Program, National Science Foundation Blood Falls seeps from the end of the Taylor Glacier into Lake Bonney. The tent at left provides a sense of scale for just how big the phenomenon is. The phenomenon is due to leaks from a reservoir of ancient saltwater buried under the glacier. Ferrous ions dissolved in the water oxidize on contact with the atmosphere, and and precipitate as insoluble reddish ferric salts. Blood Falls contains at least 17 different types of microbes, and almost no oxygen
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Dot race
Courtesy American Chemical SocietyScientists are always trying to run lab rats through mazes right? Well, maybe not as much as we see in TV and movies, but these scientists took the same task and bested the mice....with chemistry. Chemists at Northwestern University developed a maze, filled it with a basic solution, and were able to get a gelatinous chunk of acid to navigate its way to the solution. Find out how. The movies are pretty cool to watch.
15 cute animals that could kill you. I would like to draw everyone's attention to number 5:
[A]ll of the world's big cats — including tigers, lions, jaguars, leopards and cheetahs — can threaten lives if they are mishandled.
Check out the awesome Triceracopter over at Gizmodo.com. The saurian-machine hybrid is an imposing sculpture created in 1977 by artist Patricia Renick. Now it's for sale. You should buy it (for me) - collectibles are a great hedge against inflation.
Mount St. Helens
Courtesy jeffwilcoxRescue attempts have been postponed until Tuesday for a hiker who fell into the crater of Mount St. Helens in Washington state. The 50 year-old man was standing near the crater's edge when the cornice he was standing on collapsed, causing him to fall some 500 feet into the crater. Here's the story on CNN.com.
"Humanity has a moral obligation to seed the universe with life"
A Valentine for the universe?: A day late, sure, but when we're dealing with light years it doesn't seem like a big deal.
Courtesy thebadastronomerAccording to at least one scientist, it is the moral obligation of humanity to sow the biological seeds of life across the universe.
Hopefully it's also the obligation of humanity to take the universe out to dinner first.
Seriously, though. Some people think that the original building blocks of life might have been brought to Earth by extraterrestrial impacts. This dude thinks that we should spread life (not necessarily human life—more like primitive bacteria) across the universe, because that's what life does (spread itself) and because we have the means, awesome space apes that we are. Interestin', interestin'.
Dinosaur expressway: Although this one is near Denver, Colorado, a similar trackway has been discovered in China.
Courtesy Mark RyanScientists in China have discovered a trackway of some 3000 dinosaur footprints - all moving in the same direction - in the eastern region of Shandong province near the city of Zhucheng. The 100 million year-old tracks appear to be from several species. Click here for more info.
Chicago from the old Sears Tower: Probably not where you want to be during an earthquake.
Courtesy Mark RyanThe U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has reported a 3.8 magnitude earthquake, centered in northern Illinois about 40 miles WNW of Chicago. The tremor, which occurred today around 4AM local time, was felt in Wisconsin, and Indiana, and as far away as Michigan.
Wind power growing
Courtesy Dirk Ingo Franke
China doubles its wind genereration in 2009
The Global Wind Energy Council said that China doubled power capacity from 12 gigawatts to 25 gigawatts last year.
World wind generation up 31% in 2009
The wind power sector grew rapidly last year. It was up 31% despite the economic downturn. The market for new wind turbines was worth $63 billion in 2009.
China is aiming to increase that sixfold — to 150 gigawatts — by 2020. The Chinese Renewable Energy Industries Association says it could hit that target far earlier. But wind power still accounts for only 1% of China's total electricity consumption.
The United States still ranks as the world's largest user of wind power — with 35 gigawatts of capacity — although only 2% of its total electricity consumption comes from wind, the Global Wind Energy Council said. The European Union depends on wind for 9% of its power.USA Today
A woman in southern Germany watching the sunset via a webcam over the Internet helped save the life of a tourist lost on the frozen North Sea several hundred kilometers away. She saw the tourist's camera flashes and contacted police.
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