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I'm not sure what this chemical is but it's awesome when heated.

Link: http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,2845,2357391,00.asp

Did they find it at the super expensive and nerdy LHC? Nope, it was stuck down a well.

The detections were made by cryogenically cooled sensors at the bottom of the Soudan Iron Mine, a location that shields the detectors from more ordinary stray particles. To reach the underground laboratory, a particle would have to pass through half a mile of iron-rich rock. And to be detected, the WIMP would still have to collide with the nucleus of an atom in the sensor's Zip detectors. These employ state-of-the-art thin-film superconducting technology using 250g germanium and 100g silicon crystals, which are capable of recording the extremely low energy generated by such a collision. Such collisions are extraordinarily rare, if indeed the detections are valid.

What's that Lassie? Dark matter is stuck down a well? !? ?

Link: http://scifiwire.com/2009/12/mythbusters-takes-on-star.php

The episode, which takes a scientific look at the original Star Trek episode "Arena," airs Monday, Dec. 28, at 9 p.m. on the Discovery Channel.

Link: http://sciencehack.com/

Oh boy, now you can find all sorts of Sciency stuff from the comfort of your own - um, whatever you're on.

Search for science experiments, science projects, science movies and science news.

Some of the latest searches....

-Vacuum Pressure Photon injection HHo Part 1 of 2
-Venus Flytrap in Action
-Hexapod Dance Competition - Hagenberg/Austria
-Inside Optical Glyph Tracking
-Invasive Fire Ants Lose Heads to Flies
-Tilted Twister - Lego NXT Rubik's Cube solver
-Antarctic species tallied up
-Bionic Hand

Cool huh? Enough to keep you distracted all day if you want.

What we have here is a whole cool science video series - sure to kill off some time while you should be pretending to work on the run up to Christmas.

Link: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/6724969/Scientists-create-the-worlds-smallest-snowman.html

How small ? How about 1/5th the size of a human hair? Good luck finding a carrot for the nose.

Experts at the National Physical Laboratory in West London made the miniature figure which is just 0.01mm across.

However, far from the thrill of rolling balls of snow around a field to build their masterpiece, it was assembled using tools designed for manipulating nanoparticles.

Bill will set you straight on this topic cus he's Bill Nye the Science Guy

Link: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,568528,00.html?test=latestnews

Bill points out a reason for the LHC failing so often might be because nature is working to prevent itself....

In a bizarre sci-fi theory, Danish physicist Dr Holger Bech Nielsen and Dr Masao Ninomiya from Japan claim nature is trying to prevent the LHC from finding the elusive Higgs boson. Called the "God particle," the theoretical boson could explain the origins of mass in the universe — if physicists can find the darn thing.

The scientists say their math proves nature will "ripple backward through time" to stop the LHC before it can create the God particle, like a time traveller who goes back in time to kill his grandfather.

Link: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/11/06/lhc_dimensional_portals/

Holy crap - it's basically word for word the plot of Half Life....

A top scientist at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) says that the titanic machine may possibly create or discover previously unimagined scientific phenomena, or "unknown unknowns" - for instance "an extra dimension".

"Out of this door might come something, or we might send something through it," said Sergio Bertolucci, who is Director for Research and Scientific Computing at CERN, briefing reporters including the Reg at CERN HQ earlier this week.

And I seem to remember a certain picture .....

We're doomed.

Woah, that's some hella violent science.... almost feel sorry for the little guy.

Link: http://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2009-08/there-scientific-way-measure-fart-smell

This is so the kinda project I'd have done if in my day we had access to any technology...

I'd have demonstrated it's use more effectively tho.

After learning in class how breathalyzers work, Robert Clain and Miguel Salas assembled a fart detector from a sensitive hydrogen sulfide monitor, a thermometer and a microphone and wrote the software that would rate the emission. A “slight perturbance in the air” near the detector sets it to work measuring the three pillars of fart quality: stench, temperature and sound. Temperature, Clain explains, is critical. The hotter a fart, the faster it spreads. “It beeps faster if it’s a high ranker, and a voice rates it on a scale of zero to nine,” he says. “If it ranks a nine, a fan comes on to blow it away. It even records the noise so you can play it back later.”

Grins, they really thought of everything!!

Link: http://www.reuters.com/article/scienceNews/idUSTRE57H02I20090818?feedType=RSS&feedName=scienceNews&rpc=22&sp=true

It's looking more and more likely that earth was "seeded" from spacefaring comets....

"The discovery of glycine in a comet supports the idea that the fundamental building blocks of life are prevalent in space, and strengthens the argument that life in the universe may be common rather than rare," said Carl Pilcher, the director of the NASA Astrobiology Institute in California, which co-funded the research.

Glycine and other amino acids have been found in a number of meteorites before, most notably one that landed near the town of Murchison, Australia in 1969, Elsila said.

That's pretty cool and pretty cray all at the same time.

Link: http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20327162.600-apollo-special-welcome-to-lunarville.html?full=true

What if things had been different that summer? Suppose Congress had granted NASA's wish, then fast-forward 40-odd years...

You know, this makes you think - it's entirely feasible.

Link: http://thecrit.com/2009/06/03/company-makes-any-plant-produce-thc-and-the-tomatoes-are-especially-yummy/

Ok, this is indeed a novel approach to the marijuana laws- smoke tomatoes. No, I'm not kidding....

Scientists at Montsaint Genie Tech Inc. announced today that they have successfully transferred the gene segment that produces the psychotropic chemical THC in cannabis plants to many other common garden plants, including tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce, carrots, and more.

“Well, you can’t make twine out of a tomato plant, but if someone were to dry it and smoke it, all of the medicinal and psychotropic effects of marijuana would be present. And what’s more, we have learned that tomatoes, in particular, actually produce more THC than cannabis itself.”

You just can't make stuff like this up - no word on what other genetic mutations might arise from this down the road... say if cows eat feed from the product....

What you smokin man...

"cow"

Link: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-05/nsae-crt051809.php

Get ready to throw out all those Lithium Ion batteries - enter Lithium Sulfur.

"This composite material can supply up to nearly 80 percent of the theoretical capacity of sulphur, which is three times the energy density of lithium transition metal oxide cathodes, at reasonable rates with good cycling stability," said Dr. Nazar.

Um, yeah - what he said.

Tell me you and I wouldn't have liked the periodic table so much better if it were done like this.....

Link: http://www.inhabitat.com/2009/04/27/first-plant-ever-grown-on-the-moon-by-2012/

As part of the Google Lunar X Prize, Paragon Space Development Corporation has recently teamed with Odyssey Moon to develop a pressurized mini greenhouse to deploy on the surface of the moon, grow a plant from seed, and hopefully see it flower and seed itself.

The plant they're sending is from the brassica family - a form of mustard. Having seen these grow in the wild.... I'd say there's a plenty good chance of this working.

I call first dibs on moon watermelon!!!!!!!!

Link: http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSN03361051

Seriously, if you took it - some penguins wearing badges would like to have a word with you.

On a more serious note the whole freakin world is melting... that is all.

Link: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16842-hungry-shrimp-eat-climate-change-experiment.html

Remember this one? They were sailing a huge ship full of iron powder to seed the oceans, create a plankton bloom - (which would then soak up carbon) and decay - sinking the carbon to the bottom of the ocean.

It worked! - um, right up until the point where millions of tiny shrimp came over and ate it.

Someone go and push that Price is Right fail button for 'em will ya?

Link: http://www.wired.com/medtech/genetics/magazine/17-03/st_qa

It's already in the works - Dino Chicken park anyone?

My favorite quote from the article....

It would certainly prove the creationists dead wrong.

Link: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/4296859/Women-have-more-nightmares-than-men-study-finds.html

They carry their worries into their dreams, and continue to process emotional concerns while they are asleep, according to the study.

also it's really hard to have nightmares about bacon, beer, football, or cheerleaders......

or donuts... cars.... tools....

fishing.... steak.... swordfights ....

Link: http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20126911.300-our-world-may-be-a-giant-hologram.html?full=true

Want some science to warp your mind?

For many months, the GEO600 team-members had been scratching their heads over inexplicable noise that is plaguing their giant detector. Then, out of the blue, a researcher approached them with an explanation. In fact, he had even predicted the noise before he knew they were detecting it.

This is going to bend some neurons so be prepared.

Link: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16390-climate-fix-ship-sets-sail-with-plan-to-dump-iron-.html

I dunno if you remember - but a ways back there was a big argument about an attempt to dump iron powder into the ocean ( plankton feeds on it ) and this would then in turn create a bloom which would then in turn take Carbon out of the atmosphere.

Well, despite it still being a hugely debated idea the ship has set sail. So, I guess we will all get to see how this works out.

Link: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=689628960191060384&hl=en

An awesome documentary sure to make you wonder just what the heck they were thinking back in the 60's ... no wonder the kid next door has 4 arms!

Link: http://www.slate.com/id/2205310/

The full genome of the Neanderthal, an ancient human species probably driven to extinction by the first modern humans that entered Europe some 45,000 years ago, is expected to be recovered shortly. If the mammoth can be resurrected, the same would be technically possible for Neanderthals.

I dunno - thats taking it a bit far - Though arguably we would have much more realistic Geico commercials.

Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/20/science/20mammoth.html?bl&ex=1227330000&en=cb254b577ccf4790&ei=5087%0A

Dollars to Donuts we see this in our lifetime. Scientists now think it is possible and can be done for "as little" as 10 million.

Had to do the Mammoth Mart logo - me mom used to shop there when I was just a wee lad.

Link: http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2230264/martian-winter-claims-phoenix

Amazing that it lasted this long. The probe has shut down in the harsh Martian winter. So long buddy...

" I'm sorry Dave, I can't do that..... "

Link: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/article5106854.ece

Now you can find out scientifically why when you are wearing shorts she is wearing gloves and a parka.

Check out this cool little demo of a solar furnace - first they obliterate a hot dog and then melt right through steel. Cool!

Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7686530.stm

Peeling sticky tape emits X-rays strong enough to scan a human finger, a remarkable experiment has shown.

Heh, Stickytape - you Brits are a riot ... I wonder if you carry the non sticky tape as well

With Video Evidence of Course.

While something in my mind says - you don't wanna be showing your readers this - no doubt some of 'em will be trying it.

The rest of my mind says - cool, if you have an accident an blow something up real good.... send me the video!

Link: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/10/17/parfum_cosmique/

Did you know astronauts have described the smell of space as a cross between the smell of fried steak and welding hot metal? - Now Nasa has hired an smell engineer to recreate this smell.

I dunno about you but I'm thinking this would be perfect for a womans perfume. What man could resist?

And they wonder why cancer rates went up so sharply. A 3:11 minute documentary clip with video of the test blast.

Link: http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2008/09/23/ancient-yeast-beer.html

Thanks Osh -

A decade ago Raul Cano, now a scientist at the California Polytechnic State University, drilled a tiny hole into the amber and extracted more than 2,000 different kinds of microscopic creatures.

Activating the ancient yeast, Cano now brews barrels (not bottles) of pale ale and German wheat beer through the Fossil Fuels Brewing Company.

Ooohh beer, science and history - this is like an all in one post eh?
No word if Bob and Doug will find a dinosaur inside the bottle and attempt to return it.

Link: http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/080923-dark-flows.html

Count it - that makes 2 completely unknown things discovered in the universe this week

.

Patches of matter in the universe seem to be moving at very high speeds and in a uniform direction that can't be explained by any of the known gravitational forces in the observable universe. Astronomers are calling the phenomenon "dark flow."

The stuff that's pulling this matter must be outside the observable universe, researchers conclude.

That analog that our universe is just an atom on a giants thumbnail gets all together more believable doesn't it?