Science & TechnologyS


Frog

Female Concave-eared Frogs Draw Mates With Ultrasonic Calls


Science Daily
Sun, 11 May 2008 22:25 UTC
Most female frogs don't call; most lack or have only rudimentary vocal cords. A typical female selects a mate from a chorus of males and then --silently -- signals her beau. But the female concave-eared torrent frog, Odorrana tormota, has a more direct method of declaring her interest: She emits a high-pitched chirp that to the human ear sounds like that of a bird.

O. tormota
©Albert Feng
O. tormota lives in a noisy environment on the brushy edge of streams in the Huangshan Hot Springs, in central China, where waterfalls and rushing water provide a constant din.
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Bug

Neil Young gets new honor -- his own spider


News Daily
Sun, 11 May 2008 21:19 UTC
Iconic singer and songwriter Neil Young has had an honor bestowed upon him that is not received by many musicians -- his own spider.

An East Carolina University biologist, Jason Bond, discovered a new species of trapdoor spider and opted to call the arachnid after his favorite musician, Canadian Neil Young, naming it Myrmekiaphila neilyoungi.

Nel Young
©REUTERS/Johannes Eisele
Singer and director Neil Young poses during a photocall to present his Film "Deja Vu" in Berlin February 8, 2008.

"There are rather strict rules about how you name new species," Bond said in a statement.

"As long as these rules are followed you can give a new species just about any name you please. With regards to Neil Young, I really enjoy his music and have had a great appreciation of him as an activist for peace and justice."
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Einstein

'Wall Paper Peeling Mystery' Explained By Physicists


Science Daily
Sun, 11 May 2008 21:13 UTC
When you try to remove adhesive paper from a surface, you inevitably get a pointy flap, while what you want is to remove the entire piece. A team from the Laboratoire de physique et mécanique des milieux hétérogènes (CNRS/ESPCI/Universités Paris 6 and 7), collaborating with the University of Santiago in Chile and with MIT, has explained the physics behind this frustrating experience. The work is published in Nature Materials, and could be used in testing the mechanical properties of very fine adhesive film used in industry.

Image
©E.Hamm, USACH
System used in controlled tear experiments: the tab is pulled at constant speed and the experiment is performed with films with different adhesive and mechanical properties.
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Star

Five science fiction movies that get the science right

Michael Marshall
New Scientist
Fri, 09 May 2008 14:45 UTC
Recently we praised the latest sci-fi blockbuster Iron Man for including so many real-world technologies.

It makes a change, since all too often Hollywood's use of science involves shocking blunders: including spaceships making whooshing noises in Star Wars to the journey to the centre of the Earth in The Core.

So, to give credit where it's due, we have picked out five more sci-fi films that go against the grain, and contain some accurate, plausible science. They may not be completely realistic, but they get it right when it matters most.

Be warned: this article inevitably contains a number of spoilers.
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Telescope

Solar Images Show Green And Blue Flashes


Science Daily
Mon, 05 May 2008 10:56 UTC


solar image
©Stéphane Guisard (ESO)
Green flash at top of solar image

Cerro Paranal, home of ESO's Very Large Telescope, is certainly one of the best astronomical sites on the planet. Stunning images, obtained by ESO staff at Paranal, of the green and blue flashes, as well as of the so-called 'Gegenschein', are real cases in point.
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Star

Astronomers begin search for 'vanishing' stars

David Shiga
New Scientist
Fri, 09 May 2008 10:05 UTC
Astronomers have started monitoring about a million massive stars to see if any suddenly vanish, seemingly without a trace. Such a disappearing act would support a theory that some massive stars simply implode when they die, rather than exploding in brilliant supernovae or gamma-ray bursts.

As a massive star ages, it accumulates iron in its core. Eventually, this iron core grows so massive that it is crushed by its own gravity, forming a black hole.
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Hourglass

DNA links Alaska Natives to ancient glacier man


Alaska Newspapers
Fri, 09 May 2008 16:24 UTC
Seventeen Alaska and Canada Natives have been linked by DNA to an ancient man whose remains were found in 1999 in a glacier.

Among the first to be notified last week was Juneau resident Fernando Rado, who found out on Thursday, May 1, he is one of them.

Rado was one of 250 Native people tested for a DNA match in a project sponsored by the Champagne and Aishihik First Nations and Sealaska Heritage Institute.
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Hourglass

1,000 Ancient Tombs, Unique Remains Found in Colombia

José Orozco
National Geographic
Fri, 09 May 2008 16:16 UTC


colombia tombs
©Fernando Vergara/Associated Press
A skeleton emerges from the soil of an ancient grave, one of nearly a thousand tombs recently found in a neighborhood in Bogotá, Colombia.
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Magnify

Magnetic rocks may reveal Martian life

Anna Davison
New Scientist
Thu, 08 May 2008 16:07 UTC


Magnatite
©Siim Sepp/Creative Commons ShareAlike
Some magnetite is produced by bacteria on Earth

A miniature detector could pick out magnetic rocks on Mars that might harbour telltale signs of ancient life.

The instrument could select rocks that contain a magnetic compound - magnetite - that is also produced by bacteria on Earth. The rocks could then be brought back to Earth for closer examination.
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UFO 2

What's waiting on Mars?

Alan Boyle
MSNBC
Thu, 08 May 2008 14:49 UTC
Images from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter are providing an advance peek at what the Phoenix Mars Lander will be running up against when it lands near the planet's north pole later this month: The spacecraft will be coming down in the middle of a spring thaw, and based on the pictures released this week, there just might be some Martian mini-tornadoes swirling through the scene.

Image
©NASA / JPL-Caltech / MSSS
Arrows highlight two dust devils whirling
across the landing area for the Phoenix
Mars Lander, as seen from above by the
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Click on
the image for a larger version.
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