Well, humanity had a pretty good run. Snakes have learned to fly and now we are on borrowed time.
Five related species of tree-dwelling snakes found in Southeast and South Asia may just be the worst nightmares of ophidiophobes (people who have abnormal fears of snakes). Not only are they snakes, but they can “fly” — flinging themselves off their perches, flattening their bodies, and gliding from tree to tree or to the ground.
…Socha says, “the snake is pushed upward — even though it is moving downward — because the upward component of the aerodynamic force is greater than the snake’s weight.”
“Hypothetically, this means that if the snake continued on like this, it would eventually be moving upward in the air — quite an impressive feat for a snake,” he says. But our modeling suggests that the effect is only temporary, and eventually “the snake hits the ground to end the glide.”
See what hell you have wrought Samuel L. Jackson. You’ve ridden the beasts from your plane only to force their evolution here on Earth.
One more milestone in private sector space exploration has been crossed. The FAA granted SpaceX the first-ever commercial license for reentry for its Dragon capsule. This means that SpaceX can offer round trip voyages to the ISS and beyond.
“Milestones are an important part of space exploration and SpaceX achieved a very important one today,” said Doug Cooke, associate administrator for NASA’s Exploration Systems Mission Directorate. “I congratulate SpaceX on this landmark achievement and wish them the best with their launch of the Dragon capsule.”
Flight Engineer Scott Kelly wants you to know what it’s like to be on the International Space Station. In this video he gives a detail guided tour, but can Mr. Kelly be trusted. If he’s in outer space HOW DO HIS GLASSES STAY ON HIS HEAD?!?!?
Can’t recognize the signs of the Ebola virus? Want a quick and easy way to know if your friend is a carrier? Say hello to the new Ebola and Marbug virus detector.
“By enabling ultra-portable and fast detection, our technology can directly impact the course of our reaction against bio-terrorism threats and dramatically improve our capability to confine viral outbreaks,” said Assistant Professor Hatice Altug of the Boston University College of Engineering, who co-led the research team with Assistant Professor John Connor of the Boston University School of Medicine.
Maybe this doesn’t fit until your daily life now but just wait until they develop one for vampirism.
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.
It glows deep red. It’s two feet long. It is your new standard in marine life glamour.
A large new species of deep red, glowing squid has been discovered living near undersea mountains in the southern Indian Ocean, scientists announced Monday.
At about 28 inches (70 centimeters) long, the as yet unnamed species is relatively big—though other squid can reach as long as 65 feet (20 meters), some species are barely three quarters of an inch (1.5 centimeters).
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.
Andrew invents a new form of binding legal document that could save your life should you be infected with a rage virus. Brian is faced with his darkest choice yet as his wife and children hang in the balance. Will he reverse the zombie apocalypse by making the most intimate sacrifice in human history? Justin is convinced the gang can get into space mining by crashing a few influential parties and charming those in the know. With Four Loko.
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:
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?
We’ve finally demonstrated the ability to create and sustain antimatter.
In a new study, physicists at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Geneva were able to create 38 antihydrogen atoms and preserve each for more than one-tenth of a second. The project was part of the ALPHA (Antihydrogen Laser PHysics Apparatus) experiment, an international collaboration that includes physicists from the University of California, Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL).
It is thought that most antimatter was eliminated shortly after the Big Bang. This will go a long way to our understanding of the mysterious phenomenon.
Researchers at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute captured the first video of this odd Pacific barreleye fish whose most prominent feature is a completely transparent head. Watch the video for a weird look into a working mind.
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