One Common Ancestor Behind Blue Eyes | LiveScience

A neat bit of genetic archeology -- it would seem that all of us with blue eyes had a common ancestor 6 to 10 thousand years ago.

One Common Ancestor Behind Blue Eyes | LiveScience

Maverick scientists 'could use stem cells to create humans' - Telegraph

This raises some interesting possibilities for treating infertility as well as allowing same sex couples to have children genetically related to both of them:

Maverick scientists 'could use stem cells to create humans' - Telegraph: "Babies with just one biological parent could be produced by creating stem cells without using embryos, the pioneer of the technique fears."

Ancient bones suggest cavemen wore boots - being-human - 27 January 2008 - New Scientist

Something I wouldn't have even thought to look at -- by looking at toe sizes, it seems that people 40,000 years ago wore some sort of shoe or boot.

Ancient bones suggest cavemen wore boots - being-human - 27 January 2008 - New Scientist

NOAA: Warmed Global Oceans Produce Less Atlantic Hurricanes

Well, it looks like the waters are muddied a little more. The NOAA has some new research that would seem to indicate that increased ocean temperatures would mean fewer storms in the Atlantic, rather than the more and larger that had been predicted earlier. This underscores that there needs to be a lot more research done before we have any idea how the climate works.

DailyTech - NOAA: Warmed Global Oceans Produce Less Atlantic Hurricanes: "While opposing factions wage war over global warming and what calamities it might bring upon the earth, research by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on ocean temperature and land-falling hurricanes in the Atlantic Ocean seems to indicate that a globally warmer ocean may actually produce fewer killer storms."

Discovery News : Discovery Channel

This is a major discovery that blurs the line between biotechnology and nanotechnology:

Discovery News : Discovery Channel: "The move, which comes after five years of research, is seen as the penultimate stage in the endeavor to create an artificial life form based entirely on a man-made DNA genome -- something which has tantalized scientists and sci-fi writers for years."

The possibility, indeed the probability, of artificial life could open up entirely new technological avenues from designer bacteria and viruses to new symbiotic organisms to living microscopic computers.

First look at SpaceShipTwo - Cosmic Log - msnbc.com

First look at SpaceShipTwo - Cosmic Log - msnbc.com: "Virgin Galactic

An artist's conception shows the SpaceShipTwo rocket plane.

The new designs for Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo rocket plane and WhiteKnightTwo mothership were unveiled in New York today, and they include some unexpected twists. In fact, you could be excused if you think you're seeing double, or even triple."

A very nice looking spacecraft. I'll be excited to see it in action...

New Rocket Has Problem With Vibration - New York Times

Some of the problems NASA is running into with the new Ares line of rockets:

New Rocket Has Problem With Vibration - New York Times: "Engineers are concerned that a new rocket, the Ares I, which will replace the space shuttle and send astronauts on their way to the moon, could shake violently during the first minutes of flight."

Electronic Contact Lenses for Better Vision - Medgadget - www.medgadget.com

Another step from science fiction to reality - soon we could have computer displays printed on contact lenses, allowing a HUD type interface layered over the real world without any bulky equipment.

Electronic Contact Lenses for Better Vision - Medgadget - www.medgadget.com: "Researchers at the University of Washington managed to embed an electronic circuit and LEDs directly into contact lenses, which seemed to look good on rabbit eyes. Though the circuit is not functional and the lights don't light up, the development shows that future applications like direct video to the eye may indeed be possible."

Early settlers drained marshy US landscape - earth - 17 January 2008 - New Scientist Environment

New Scientist has article about how our idea of the "natural" landscape of eastern North America may be radically wrong

Early settlers drained marshy US landscape - earth - 17 January 2008 - New Scientist Environment: "Standard notions of the 'natural' eastern US landscape with its meandering ribbon-like streams may be misguided, suggests historical research."

This is part of growing historical evidence that both early settlers and Native Americans made drastic alterations to the natural landscape of North America. However, due to a quirk of how history is recorded, our ideas of what the "untouched" natural environment is are only what happened to be the conditions when the first literary evidence was recorded.

I guess everything is on YouTube now.

If you're a criminal, don't make YouTube videos of yourself taunting police:

ABC News: YouTube Taunt Brings Gangster Takedown: "Two alleged gang members who taunted the Miami Dade Police Department in a video posted on YouTube have been arrested by U.S. agents and charged with federal firearms violations."

Monkey Brains In U.S. Make Robot Walk In Japan -- Robots -- InformationWeek

Oh Brave New World:

Monkey Brains In U.S. Make Robot Walk In Japan -- Robots -- InformationWeek: "Researchers at Duke University Medical Center have used a monkey's brain activity to control a robot on the other side of the globe. In what researchers tout as a first-of-its-kind experiment, monkeys' thoughts controlled the walking patterns of a robot in Japan."

If it can be modified for humans, it will greatly expand the possibilities of telepresence.

Just imagine the size of the cats

The Associated Press: Scientists Discover Huge Extinct Rodent: "A herbivore, the beast may have been a contemporary — and possibly prey — of saber-toothed cats in a prehistoric version of Tom and Jerry."

Women overtaking men in college degrees

Reason Magazine - The Coming American Matriarchy: "According to projections by the National Center for Education Statistics, in 2017 half again as many women as men will earn bachelor's degrees. In the early 1990s, six women graduated from college for every five men who did so; today, the ratio is about 4-to-3. A decade from now, it will be 3-to-2—and rising, on current trends."

Big Brain Theory: Have Cosmologists Lost Theirs? - New York Times

"Boltzmann's Brain", a scientific version of solipsism:

Big Brain Theory: Have Cosmologists Lost Theirs? - New York Times: "If true, it would mean that you yourself reading this article are more likely to be some momentary fluctuation in a field of matter and energy out in space than a person with a real past born through billions of years of evolution in an orderly star-spangled cosmos. Your memories and the world you think you see around you are illusions."

It's an interesting idea, basically given random fluctuations and cycles of creations in a multiverse, it's more likely that what we perceive as an entire universe is just an illusion than that an entire universe exists.

FDA Says Clones Are Safe For Food - washingtonpost.com

Another victory for science and common sense over the precautionary principle and fear mongering:

FDA Says Clones Are Safe For Food - washingtonpost.com: "A long-awaited final report from the Food and Drug Administration concludes that foods from healthy cloned animals and their offspring are as safe as those from ordinary animals, effectively removing the last U.S. regulatory barrier to the marketing of meat and milk from cloned cattle, pigs and goats."

This should lead to better control of food production, and higher yields in the future.

Toyota Will Offer a Plug-In Hybrid by 2010 - New York Times

Good news on the techno-green front:

Toyota Will Offer a Plug-In Hybrid by 2010 - New York Times:
"The move puts Toyota in direct competition with General Motors, which has announced plans to sell its own plug-in hybrid vehicle, the Chevrolet Volt, sometime around 2010."

This is another good step toward reducing our reliance on fossil fuels. Let's hope that it isn't just vaporware and that the resulting cars are affordable.

Today's Mercury Flyby To Be the First Since 1974 - washingtonpost.com

Keep an eye on this story:

Today's Mercury Flyby To Be the First Since 1974 - washingtonpost.com

Technology has advanced a lot since the 70s, so we may find out a lot of new things about Mercury.

World's cheapest car in India

Tata Motors, an Indian company, has begun producing the word's cheapest car:

Tata Motors has unveiled the world's cheapest motor car at India's biggest car show in the capital, Delhi.

The vehicle, called the Tata Nano, will sell for 100,000 rupees or $2,500 (£1,277) and enable those in developing countries to move to four wheels.

It's a tiny car with none of the modern features like power windows or steering, or air conditioning. But it does get 50mpg and can seat an entire family, making it a vast improvement over what many have had to live with. It should help make vehicle ownership more affordable for millions.

Scientists Use Sunlight to Make Fuel From CO2

Another innovative approach to alternative energy, though unfortunately a decade or more away:

http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2008/01/S2P

Being able to convert other types of carbon molecules into hydrocarbons would essentially give us the ability to undo the past century of fossil fuel use.