Fat Cells Forever

BBC NEWS | Health | Fat cell numbers 'set for life': "No amount of dieting will alter the number of fat-hoarding cells in our bodies, research has suggested.

Scientists at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden say that the number is set during adolescence and stays the same, regardless of obesity later in life...."

Record Catfish

Angler Releases Probable World Record Catfish
See the Pictures
posted January 23, 2008

A TWRA Fisheries Biologist recently distributed this e-mail to his counterparts across the state.

"Attached are a couple of photos of a monster blue catfish caught near Greenville, Mississippi by an elderly man who let the fish go after his wife took the pictures. The weight of the catfish is unknown, though some catfish anglers guessed it to be at least 150 pounds. It looks like 200 pounds to me. For sure it would have been a new world record."

New Chip Type

BBC NEWS | Technology | Electronics' 'missing link' found: "Details of an entirely new kind of electronic device, which could make chips smaller and far more efficient, have been outlined by scientists.

The new components, described by scientists at Hewlett-Packard, are known as 'memristors'."...

New AF Bomber May Also Fly Recon

New AF Bomber May Also Fly Recon: "This article first appeared in Aerospace Daily & Defense Report.

The U.S. Air Force is considering fielding a variant of its next-generation bomber that could collect intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) undetected behind enemy lines.

Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne says the service is on “a quest to have long-range reconnaissance.” He says that an unmanned version of the bomber, which is expected to be fielded in 2018, would be a strong candidate for this mission..."

Six Things in Expelled That Ben Stein Doesn't Want You to Know...: Scientific American

Six Things in Expelled That Ben Stein Doesn't Want You to Know...: Scientific American: "In the film Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, narrator Ben Stein poses as a 'rebel' willing to stand up to the scientific establishment in defense of freedom and honest, open discussion of controversial ideas like intelligent design (ID). But Expelled has some problems of its own with honest, open presentations of the facts about evolution, ID—and with its own agenda. Here are a few examples—add your own with a comment, and we may add it to another draft of this story. For our complete coverage, see 'Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed—Scientific American's Take..."

Finding God

Key scientist sure God particle will be found soon | U.S. | Reuters: "GENEVA (Reuters) - British physicist Peter Higgs said on Monday it should soon be possible to prove the existence of a force which gives mass to the universe and makes life possible -- as he first argued 40 years ago.

Higgs said he believes a particle named the 'Higgs boson', which originates from the force, will be found when a vast particle collider at the CERN research centre on the Franco-Swiss border begins operating fully early next year..."

I Want One

3-D TV

Live hoops game gets 3-D treatment in Dallas theater | Sports | Reuters: "LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - High-definition pioneer Mark Cuban is using his NBA team and Landmark Theater chain to orchestrate a rare 3-D broadcast of a live event.

Tuesday night's National Basketball Assn. game between Cuban's Dallas Mavericks and the Los Angeles Clippers will be presented live in 3-D via satellite to fans at a theater in Dallas. It's a 'pilot exhibition,' an event that serves to underscore the belief that live 3-D represents a new alternative content opportunity..."

Hell Hopper

Prehistoric 'frog from hell' hints at ancient land link - earth - 18 February 2008 - New Scientist Environment: "'The frog from hell' - a giant fossil found in Madagascar - has opened a rift among researchers over when an ancient land bridge closed. The finding supports the controversial view that South America and Madagascar were linked until 80 million years ago - far more recently than previously thought..."

Sliding Into The Future

DNA Genetics, Paternity, CSI & General Science » Evidence for a parallel universe?: "...The dimension of the hole is so big that at first glance, it results impossible to explain under the current cosmological theories, although scientists put forward some explanations based on certain theoretical models that might predict the existence of “giant knots” in space known as topological defects.

However, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill physics Professor Laura Mersini-Houghton made a staggering claim. She says, “Standard cosmology cannot explain such a giant cosmic hole” and goes further with the ground-breaking hypothesis that the huge void is “… the unmistakable imprint of another universe beyond the edge of our own“..."

Comet Bigger Than Sun

Incredible Comet Bigger than the Sun - Yahoo! News: "A comet that has delighted backyard astronomers in recent weeks after an unexpected eruption has now grown larger than the sun.

The sun remains by far the most massive object in the solar system, with an extended influence of particles that reaches all the planets. But the comparatively tiny Comet Holmes has released so much gas and dust that its extended atmosphere, or coma, is larger than the diameter of the sun. The comparison is clear in a new image..."

Old Walls In Peru

Temple built 4,000 years ago unearthed in Peru - Yahoo! News: "LIMA (Reuters) - A 4,000-year-old temple filled with murals has been unearthed on the northern coast of Peru, making it one of the oldest finds in the Americas, a leading archaeologist said on Saturday..."

Sputnik Launch Secrets

Talking Points Memo | Secrets of 1957 Sputnik launch revealed: "Secrets of 1957 Sputnik launch revealed 50 Years After Momentous Launch, Sputnik's Launch Revealed As an Improvised Gamble for Soviets VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV AP News Oct 01, 2007 01:48 EDT When Sputnik took off 50 years ago, the world gazed at the heavens in awe and apprehension, watching what seemed like the unveiling of a sustained Soviet effort to conquer space and score a stunning Cold War triumph."

Wrist Hobbit

Talking Points Memo | TPM News Headlines: "Scientists, wringing their hands over the identity of the famed 'hobbit' fossil, have found a new clue in the wrist. Since the discovery of the bones in Indonesia in 2003, researchers have wrangled over whether the find was an ancient human ancestor or simply a modern human suffering from a genetic disorder."

First Stars, First Threads

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Dark matter clues in oldest stars: "A computer model of the early Universe indicates the first stars could have formed in spectacular, long filaments. These structures, which may have been thousands of light-years across, would have been shaped by 'dark matter'..."

Fat Front Finding

Study Finds Evidence of Genetic Response to Diet - New York Times

"Could people one day evolve to eat rich food while remaining perfectly slim and svelte?

This may not be so wild a fantasy. It is becoming clear that the human genome does respond to changes in diet, even though it takes many generations to do so.

Researchers studying the enzyme that converts starch to simple sugars like glucose have found that people living in countries with a high-starch diet produce considerably more of the enzyme than people who eat a low-starch diet.

The reason is an evolutionary one..."

Warping Found

Mad In The Middle: Warping Found: "Warping Found Einstein's Warping Found Around Neutron Stars | LiveScience: 'Einstein's predicted warping of space-time has been discovered around neutron stars, the most dense observable matter in the universe. The warping shows up as smeared lines of iron gas whipping around the stars, University of Michigan and NASA astronomers say. The finding also indicates a size limit for the celestial objects. The same distortions have been spotted around black holes and even around Earth, so while the finding may not be a surprise, it is significant for answering basic questions of physics, said study team member Sudip Bhattacharyya of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. and the University of Maryland, College Park...'"

Out of Body

Or how to visit the void from the preceding post...

BBC NEWS | Health | Out-of-body experience recreated: "Last Updated: Thursday, 23 August 2007, 18:02 GMT 19:02 UK E-mail this to a friend Printable version Out-of-body experience recreated Out of body experience (SPL) Near-death events have triggered out-of-body experiences Experts have found a way to trigger an out-of-body experience in volunteers. The experiments, described in the Science journal, offer a scientific explanation for a phenomenon experienced by one in 10 people..."

No There, There

Astronomers Puzzled by Cosmic Black Hole - The Huffington Post: "WASHINGTON — Astronomers have stumbled upon a tremendous hole in the universe. That's got them scratching their heads about what's just not there. The cosmic blank spot has no stray stars, no galaxies, no sucking black holes, not even mysterious dark matter. It is 1 billion light years across of nothing. That's an expanse of nearly 6 billion trillion miles of emptiness, a University of Minnesota team announced Thursday. Astronomers have known for many years that there are patches in the universe where nobody's home. In fact, one such place is practically a neighbor, a mere 2 million light years away. But what the Minnesota team discovered, using two different types of astronomical observations, is a void that's far bigger than scientists ever imagined..."

Levitation Revealed

The Raw Story | Scientists reveal secret of levitation: "Scientists have discovered a ground-breaking way of levitating ultra small objects, which may revolutionise the design of micro-machines, a new report says.

Physicists said they can create 'incredible levitation effects' by manipulating so-called Casimir force, which normally causes objects to stick together by quantum force..."