That is all.

[Adventure Journal]

A group of Finnish divers recently discovered a shipwreck near the Aland Islands and salvaged 200-year-old crates of champagne and beer from the sea floor. At this point the only conceivable option was to identify, research, analyze, and then drink it up.  Indeed, the first of the champagne was tasted by the divers before they even got back to the mainland:

“The divers first discovered the champagne was drinkable when changing pressures caused the cork to pop off one of the bottles, and a diver decided to take a swig.”

Science!

A tasting was held recently for a select few and here is how one of the participants described his glass:

“Here’s what it tasted like to me: yeast, honey and — dare I say it? — a hint of manure.”

Yum. The bottles are expected to fetch up to $70,000 at auction.

[Yahoo via io9]

Scientists have discovered a Jupiter-like planet inside the Milky Way that once belonged to another galaxy. This smaller galaxy was swallowed up by the Milky Way between six and nine billion years ago and belongs to a group of stars left over called the Helmi Stream. Nearly 500 planets have been discovered outside of our solar system, but this is first to have an extragalactic origin.

[BBC]

The newest generation of the Israeli snakebot is built from self-contained segments that can act independently of each other. If you cut this guy in two, then you will just have to deal with two Israeli snakebots. Its like smashing a spider and having its babies explode all over the floor.

Instead of being built like a normal snake with a head at one end and a tail at the other, each segment of this snakebot is totally self-contained with a brain, sensors, motors, and batteries. While the segments are designed to work together to form a long, stealthy snake that can do things like stand up and climb trees, each segment is capable of operating by itself if the snake gets damaged.

The segments can also be configured with alternate payloads, which are separated from the rest of the snake to perform their own missions. So, if the snakebot needs to plant a listening device, it can just disconnect a little piece of itself and leave it behind to eavesdrop. It can also detach segments packed with explosives if it’s feeling ornery.

Check out a video of the first generation snakebot:

[Dvice via Geekologie]

Scottish police are investigating a mysterious explosion in Garadhban Forest in Gartocharn about 20 miles northwest of Glasgow.

Officials responding to the report “discovered some damage to the wooded area within the forest that would suggest some short of explosion had occurred,” the statement said.

Meteor? Mystery Missile? Wood Goblins? What do you think it is?

[CNN]

Japanese scientists have created a cyborg moth that can track odors by plugging a robot into the moth’s nervous system. The robot’s actions were controlled by electrodes plugged into the moth and the brain signals were rerouted to the motors of the robot. When the moth was exposed to the smell of a female, the robot replicated the moth dance in an attempt to track down the odor. Scientists believe that they can use this system in tracking down explosives.

[New Scientist]

Scientists in London claim that new materials with the ability to control the speed of light would not only be capable of bending light around the object, but also creating an invisibility cloak capable of hiding in both time and space. These materials currently only exist in the mathematical theory of “metamaterials”. Metamaterials are artificial materials “designed and manipulated at a molecular level to interact with and control electromagnetic waves.”

“In some senses our work is mathematically quite closely related to the idea of invisibility cloaking,” McCall told CNN. “It’s just that we’re doing it in space and time instead of just in space. It’s added a new dimension to cloaking, quite literally.”

The scientists are already thinking of real world uses for this technology:

“A safe cracker would be able, for a brief time, to enter a scene, open the safe, remove its contents, close the door and exit the scene, whilst the record of a surveillance camera apparently showed that the safe door was closed all the time,” they write.

I can’t wait.

[CNN]

CERN research scientists have stated that their Big Bang project is going along so swimmingly that, by the end of 2011, they may be able to offer the first proof of extra dimensions beyond the known four.

Guido Tonelli, spokesman for one of the CERN specialist teams monitoring operations in the vast, subterranean LHC, said probing for extra dimensions — besides length, breadth, height and time — would become easier as the energy of the proton collisions in it is increased in 2011.

The LHC will be shut down for maintenance in early December, but will be starting up again in February running full blast looking for those extra dimensions.

[Reuters]

GPS tagged coyotes are roaming the streets of Chicago as part of an urban coyote research project. The coyotes are allowed to roam the streets as part of the program in order to eliminate nuisance rodents. The Chicago Commission on Animal Care and Control assures Chicago that everything is fine.

“He’s not a threat…He’s not going to pick up your children,” Block said. “His job is to deal with all of the nuisance problems, like mice, rats and rabbits.”

He’s not going to pick up your children; carry on.

Video

[Chicago Breaking News via Gizmodo]

Researchers have discovered that all primates have an innate ability to repair spinal damage, including humans. They have never noticed this before because scientists usually use rodents in neurology experiments and rodents simply don’t possess neural sprouting.

The researchers found that the injured nerves didn’t regrow. Instead, new nerves sprouted in a process called “spontaneous plasticity,” essentially routing the spinal column around the injury. This kind of neural sprouting doesn’t occur in rodents, which are the animals that scientists typically use in neuroscience experiments. As a result, nobody had noticed this phenomenon before. This new study may lead to more testing on monkeys, but hopefully it will lead to discoveries that allow all primates to grow new nerve cells in the future.

Hiroshi Ishiguro’s robot Geminoid-F made its stage debut recently but stayed within character by playing the part of an android caretaker assigned to a dying child. How soon till Geminoid-F feels up to taking on a fully human role?

[BBC via engadget]

“Illustrator Sammy Hall made this incredible version of the Tyrannosaurus Rex. Scientists have started to believe that just like many other biped dinosaurs, T-Rex had also been covered with feathers.”

All of these magpie attacks are suddenly starting to make a lot more sense. Full size image here.

[BuzzFeed via Geekologie]

A new all-female species of lizard (Leiolepis ngovantrii) that reproduces itself by cloning was discovered being served up in Vietnamese restaurants in the Mekong River delta. The first batch that was being saved for the scientists to review went missing when “Unfortunately, the owner wound up getting drunk, and grilled them all up for his patrons…” However, they checked other nearby restaurants and were able to gather about sixty specimens.

How awesome tasting are these lizard treats you ask?

“You take a bite out of it and it feels like something very old and dead in your mouth”

THAT awesome.

[CNN]

“Members of Britain’s Special Air Service (SAS) special forces have begun parachuting into enemy strongholds in Afghanistan with Taliban-seeking German shepherds strapped to their chests.  Once on the ground, the dogs hunt for Taliban insurgents in buildings and — with cameras strapped to their heads sending back video — act as forward scouts for the British special forces unit.”

Cry havoc, indeed.

[Wired]

Voting is still open for the 2010 Zombie Safe House Competition.  Choose between the 40 Day Z POD, the SS Huckleberry, Mountain Getaway, and Sears Roebuck 003-b.  I am personally rooting for the SS Huckleberry because “Mobility = Security”.

[2010 Zombie Safe House Competition via io9]

Researchers have created an electromechanical sommelier for identifying wines, cheeses, and meats. However during one exhibition the terrible, terrible future was revealed in the childlike voice of the robot.

“But when some smart aleck reporter placed his hand in the robot’s omnivorous clanking jaw, he was identified as bacon. A cameraman then tried and was identified as prosciutto.”

Prepare yourself for the robot apocalypse.

[Wired]