One would think that such a monumental discovery as finding extraterrestrial life would at least warrant some mention in Science Friday. And yet, the media has been full of reports that scientists in the UK have been announcing such a discovery and I haven't said anything about it so far. Fair point ( Read more... )

Um. Am I the only one who sees an obvious problem with this theory? And yet, the obvious problem is not brought up in the article and no one's brought it up in the comments either ( Read more... )

Well it's Friday and if you're a regular reader, you know what that means -- the weekly wrap-up of articles about cool things going on in the world of science.

• 
  When we think of the solar system's biggest mountains, we usually think of the volcanic peaks of Mars, such as Olympus Mons. But now geophysicists have discovered a volcano in the north ( Read more... )

• 
  To kick off this week's Science Friday, say hello to the world's newest mammal, the olinguito (oh-lihn-GEE'-toe) . Well, technically, it's not new, but it had somehow escaped notice by scientists, as it lives in the upper reaches of trees in South America and comes out only at night. The National Zoo in Washington had one for a year back in the ( Read more... )

• 
  Fittingly, we start off Science Friday with an item from the "One Nation Under Surveillance" Department (Hi, NSA guys!!!). Time magazine has some of the key facts you need to know about Big Brother the federal government's massive telephone surveillance program.
  


• 
  Yet another invasive species problem in the Great Lakes region. Wildlife officials ( Read more... )

• 
  Hey guys, I have an idea. Why don't we take a strain of the flu virus known for being highly lethal and combine it with a strain known for being highly contagious. It'll be fun! What could possibly go wrong?
  


• 
  Imagine a material that's paper-thin and can generate electricity by turning any surface that it coats into a type of solar panel. Then ( Read more... )