The stork that hunted hobbits?

The "hobbits" on the island of Flores apparently had an avian predator to contend with: an extinct type of marabou stork that stood 1.8 meters tall. The stork would have towered over the island's human inhabitants and perhaps posed a direct threat to the youngest. The stork appears to have died out about 20,000 years ago.
COMMENT: I couldn't help but think of this exchange: "Mommy, does the stork bring babies?" "No, honey, the stork takes them away."

Ancient civilization under Persian Gulf?

Eight thousand years ago, the water level in the Persian Gulf rose dramatically, an effect of melting glaciers at the end of the Ice Age. This may be the flood described in the Bible. Recent discoveries of ancient settlements on the current shoreline are surprisingly advanced and permanent. Hence the theory that evidence for an older, widespread civilization is beneath the waters. Jeffrey Rose of the University of Birmingham has published the idea and says he knows what the next step must be: finding an underwater site.

Meanwhile, on Venus

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency reports its Akatsuki probe reached Venus on schedule but failed to make orbit. A mechanical failure (possibly, though unlikely) due to a meteorite collision) made the probe miss the planet and keep going. JAXA project manager Masato Nakamura apologized for not meeting the nation's expectations (there's a custom we could import: leaders who are actually sorry when they fail). Engineers think they may be able to try again if the probe, sent on a two-year mission, is viable after another six years, when its trajectory will carry it by Venus again.

And the Dragon has landed

"It's just mind-blowingly awesome. It's hard to be articulate when your mind's blown — but in a very good way." That was SpaceX founder Elon Musk at a press conference after the Dragon capsule was recovered in the Pacific ocean after two orbits. The Dragon becomes the first craft launched into space and recovered by a private company.
SpaceX has a NASA contract to make 12 unmanned cargo flights to the ISS through 2016. Rival Orbital Sciences has a contract for eight flights using a spacecraft still under construction.
COMMENT: Yes, it's a magnificent feat, and important step for space commerce, etc. But most of all, it just darned cool.

We have liftoff

SpaceX's Falcon-9 with Dragon capsule made a beautiful liftoff at 10:43 EST. Watching the live feed, almost every comment heard from mission engineers had the word "nominal" in it. When it passed from the visual field of ground-based tracking systems, the second stage was performing well after the first stage did its job, and the shroud protecting the Dragon capsule had been jettisoned. It's a great start to an important mission.

Where to discover a new plant species?

In a drawer in your local museum, lab, or arboretum, of course. British botanists have made the estimate (highly speculative, of course), that 35,000 species may all have been collected and are just waiting for someone to identify them. Problem: there aren't enough "somebodies" with time and training to undertake the work.

SpaceX, waiting for go....

Space X on Monday: "A decision on whether or not to attempt launch on Wednesday will be provided tomorrow evening... if the nozzle had to be replaced, the company would aim for a Friday launch. SpaceX has a launch window that will remain open until Saturday." It's a nozzle extension used for extra thrust and not needed on this flight, but engineers want to make sure it's not a symptom of more critical cracking elsewhere.
On Tuesday: It all looks good, going for Wednesday liftoff. Trying for two orbits for Dragon and then a water landing.
Thunderbirds are Go!

"My laboratory is under water"

OK, no one actually said that headline, but I'll bet it's a good conversation starter. The Wall Street Journal has a good article, with photos and video of the unique Aquarius facility, 18m (60 ft) under the sea in the Florida Keys. There were once several such labs around the world, but Aquarius is the only one left. The lab lets scientists carry out long-term, continuously observable studies and experiments. Operations director Saul Rosser describes Aquarius by saying, "You're in this reverse aquarium—an air bubble with windows." The lab can handle six people and is in its 18th year of operation.
COMMENT: It seems to me that, with the urgency of marine science in this era of ecological concern and climate change, there should be more than one such lab - a lot more. I understand the competition for scientific resources, but there should be several such labs in different locations at different depths. Robotic vehicles and stations are increasingly capable, but nothing yet replaces the human scientist on the spot for a thorough understanding of an ecosystem.

SpaceX launch slips

SpaceX had planned to launch its Falcon-9/Dragon combination into orbit today, but small cracks were found in the nozzle of the second-stage engine. Company engineers hope a quick fix on the pad will allow a launch Wednesday or Thursday. SpaceX is testing its vehicle for NASA's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program, which funds the delivery of cargo and personnel to the International Space Station.

Falcon-9/Dragon launch coming up

Follow a big day for private space. The Falcon-9 medium-lift booster launch with a reusable (unmanned, for this test flight) Dragon capsule is set for a Tuesday launch. You can follow developments on thie title link at Spaceflight Now or with SpaceX (which has been great at putting all important moments, like test firings, on the Web live) at www.spacex.com. Best of luck, folks!

Space launch: what's Russian for "Oh, (*$%*$?"

A Russian Proton rocket carrying three Glonass navigation satellites into space has instead entered "reef-level orbit" by dumping its cargo into the Pacific. The three satellites were supposed to to complete the 24-satellite constellation, a rival to the U.S. GPS system. The satellites lie 1,500km northwest of Honolulu.
COMMENT: It's never been clear to me what the point is of Glonass or Europe's Galileo system, set up as rivals to an American constellation which provides free service to any user anywhere in the world. I suppose these expensive expressions of national pride at least promote global expertise in space engineering, which may pay other dividends down the road.

China's Unicorn Cow

Technically, it's a three-horned cow, but the third horn, right in the middle, is much more prominent than the other two. "Unicorn" animals have been produced artificially by grafting the horn buds of a cow or goat together (an American experiment by a veterinarian named Dove back in 1940 produced a bull with a really impressive horn), but this seems to be a natural genetic oddity. In China, which has many traditional beliefs regarding animals and good or bad fortune, the unique cow with the 20-cm horn has become a celebrity.

Get your yeti/sasquatch ornaments!

I hope I'm not being repetitive, but no matter what you think of cryptozoology, the International Cryptozoology Museum is a unique collection of artifacts and information on a subject of scientific and popular interest. They are giving out VERY cool yeti or sasquatch ornaments with donations. I got mine and they look great on the tree. OK, my wife looked at me a little funny.... Anyway, hit the title link for a unique way to celebrate.

And the X-37B is home

The Air Force has successfully brought back its uncrewed X-37B mini-spaceplane to a safe runway landing. There are endless speculations on what experiments were on board, but aside from that, the implications for space exploration and commerce are important. The Air Force orbited the winged craft, put it through major changes of orbit, kept it up for over seven months, and then brought it back for re-use, demonstrating advanced autonomous operations, thermal protection, and a host of other things.
COMMENT: First, as a space geek, this is really, really cool. The many spaceplane concepts conceived and abandoned in the last few decades look a lot more practical for the near future. Meanwhile, the Union of Concerned Scientists (which is actually open to anybody) is once again claiming the US is getting ready for space war. The evidence for that? Umm, there isn't any. And there is NO advance in orbital rendezvous, repair, or operations the UCS would NOT claim was evidence of space war preparations, so I think we should all agree to ignore them on this topic.

Aging an animal backward? Almost

The headline of this article is a bit misleading: scientists did not make mice age backwards. What they DID do, by manipulating an enzyme called telemorase long thought to have a role in aging, was to turn declining, feeble mice into more energetic, healthy, seemingly younger animals. While the genomes of these mice had been manipulated to make them highly suitable for the experiment, the implications for slowing deterioration in humans - either in specific organs or the entire body - are very real. Practical human applications may be decades off, though.
COMMENT: At age 51, it's really annoying that all kinds of advances that could have prolonged my productive life may not be ready until shortly after I'm dead. I'm excited for my kids, though!

Presenting the flying snake

You may have heard of the gliding snakes of Southeast Asia, but here's a supercool video clip of scientists doing experiments in the field on a snake's gliding ability, and then explaining the aerodynamics. What I wonder is why the twising snake doesn't get airsick.

Thanks to my dad, Don Bille, for this link.

Arsenic and Old Life, Part II

NASA confirmed that its big announcement this week was about life - a new species of bacteria from a California lake - that uses arsenic instead of the phosphorus present in every known species of everything in the five kingdoms of life.
"The definition of life has just expanded," said Ed Weiler, NASA's associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate at the agency's Headquarters in Washington. "As we pursue our efforts to seek signs of life in the solar system, we have to think more broadly, more diversely and consider life as we do not know it."
COMMENT: OK, so it was not E.T. And it's not quite as strange as, say, Star Trek's silicon-based Horta. But it's unprecedented evidence that life can be weirder than we thought.

Believe it or not: Albino redwood trees

Coast redwood trees are magnificent by any standard. It's a handful of tiny, slow-growing redwoods that have Stanford geneticists puzzled. The trees are albinos. About 60 exist, and no one is sure how they can. After all, photosynthetic pigments are green. The albinos are dwarfed and are not healthy, but they shouldn't be living at all.

Thanks to Chad Arment for posting this first.

4G networks are a myth

I rarely touch on things as mundane as conumer electronics here, but this one got my notice. Several companies are advertising fourth generation (4G) wireless networks. The problem: there's no such thing, at least not yet. By official definition a 4G is one capable of download speeds of 100 megabits per second (Mbps). The networks using the term are less than half this fast. Networks with faster speeds than the standard 3G are using them term 4G instead of "faster 3G." Upshot: the term is meaningless to consumers. Ignore it and look at actual speeds promised.

House of Gladiators collapses

Two thousand years ago, Pompeii's House of the Gladiators was where combatants gathered before heading into the arena. The walls were covered with frescoes of combat and military themes. The volcano couldn't knock it down, but it finally collapsed. The event is sparking a debate over who should be in charge of preserving such major (and sometimes expensive to keep up) reminders of the past.