There's gloom and doom aplenty, but here are 99 Reasons Why 2016 has been a great year for humanity.

Also, dinosaur tail, complete with feathers, found in 99-million-year-old amber from Myanmar. Seriously, people, "the tail of a non-avialan theropod (coelurosaur) preserved in Burmese amber, combining bone outlines with microscopic details of ( Read more... )

“Attention! From 19.01.2012 the icon of Vladimir Putin in the church started to seep myrrh, and the same happened to his sainted portrait,” the Holy Mother says in her blog. “God is sending us signs of his blessed presence.” Um... right. Good to know.

Is there any interested party who hasn't yet seen the blog post about PIPA supporters' ( Read more... )

Saber-toothed squirrel

and

Zombie worms?

Frankly, I think someone at Science Daily has been having a little too much fun writing the headlines.

Because I don't remember anyone else posting this link, and because it's the sort of thing many of you would have posted if you'd run across it:
The Social Networks of Superheroes.

Link via Chris Moriarty's blog. Following the links also brought me to this post about "eurekometrics", which will probably be of interest to those of you who think ( Read more... )

New Scientist TV: No magnet required: How to build a compass out of Lego. Sadly, I do not own any of the relevant Technic parts.

ScienceDaily (Jan. 7, 2010) - About eight percent of human genetic material comes from a virus and not from our ancestors, according to researchers in Japan and the U.S.

Elizabeth H. Blackburn, Carol W. Greider, and Jack W. Szostak are this year's winners for the Nobel Prize in medicine for their research into telomeres (the tips of chromosomes) and telomerase (the enzyme that builds telomeres); discoveries which, in the words of the prize committee, "have added a new dimension to our understanding of the cell, ( Read more... )

Why do I do this to myself? Why do I keep checking out new age fluff from the library and reading it? No, that's not the question. The question is: Why do I keep reading new age fluff by authors who try to support their mysticism with "science"? After all, it's not the metaphysics that bothers me; it's the physics. I'll be reading along ( Read more... )

Now wearing: Long, lightweight, pale turquoise-ish button-down nightgown and boring underwear.

Now hearing: Siouxsie & the Banshees. "The Killing Jar" has been running through my head for days, so I gave in to the inevitable and pulled out my copy of Peepshow.

Now smelling: Mostly my body odor, not entirely offensive.

Now tasting: Vomit, ( Read more... )

Link via nancylebov and supergee: How the city hurts your brain... And what you can do about it. See also comments over on Whatever.

I love the tree outside my window. Even leafless, covered in the rags left by last spring's overabundance of tent caterpillars, it is soothing to look upon.