In Soviet Russia, jet flies you!
Back when they were still in an arms race with the West, the USSR designed the world’s largest and heaviest jet. Called the Antonov (or AN-225), it features a 32-wheel landing gear system and an 88-metre (291-foot) wingspan, for use in their space system. It is capable of hauling 250,000 kilograms internally and up to 200,000 kilograms on its fuselage. The link below has a video of this beast in action with a Russian space shuttle hitching a ride on its back. It’s too bad the Berlin Wall fell—it would have been neat to see what crazy things the Soviets would have come up with next.
Link: tinyurl.com/39qgyq
Ever wonder what it’s like to die?
This engaging (and slightly unsettling) article on the New Scientist website describes how it feels to kick the bucket in a variety of gruesome ways. From the guillotine (swift) to a heart attack (sometimes not so swift), each description of how the final moments probably feel is reconstructed from survivor accounts and expert insight. In my opinion, a good way to die would be a hotdog overdose at an eating competition— at least your hunger would be satisfied before you croaked.
Link: tinyurl.com/2yd9vp
Two-tone moons are in this season (NASA agrees)
The Cassini satellite snapped this neat shot of one of the most curious objects in our solar system. Named Iapetus, this ice-coated moon of Saturn features a distinct “walnut” shape and several massive impact craters. No word yet if this moon also comes in solid colours.
Link: tinyurl.com/2cv2nb
Tired of sex
Bdelloid rotifers haven’t been getting laid for over 80 million years and, surprisingly, they are all the better for it. These tiny microorganisms reproduce asexually and have two copies of the same gene, each copy functioning differently. This allows them to survive long periods of time in a desiccated state when the ponds they inhabit evaporate. This is the first time this tactic has been seen in asexual organisms, and may help explain how asexual organisms can survive over so many generations (typically, asexually reproducing organisms are not seen as viable in the long term for a variety of reasons). The best part is, these little guys don’t need to spend money on birth control.
Link: tinyurl.com/22cpau
The best of the worst
Every year, those industrious chaps at the Annals of Improbable Research give out their Ig Nobel Awards, a humours antithesis to the Nobel Prize (and announced at the same time). This year’s highlights: “Sword Swallowing and Its Side Effects,” and a study from the Air Force Wright Laboratory regarding a chemical “gay bomb” that would make enemy soldiers irresistibly attracted to each other. My personal favourite is the chemist that found a way to make vanilla flavouring from cow dung. Already, an ice cream shop in Cambridge, Massachusetts has named a flavour after the lead researcher on the piece, Mayu Yamamoto, named Yum-a-Moto Vanilla Twist. Who would have thought that cow poop could be so delicious?
Link: tinyurl.com/22cpau
A weird animal that you’ve never heard of
Presenting the Guatemalan Beaded Lizard. There are less than 200 of these guys alive in the wild and efforts are under way to save them, headed by the Nature Conservancy. It can withstand extremely high temperatures and drought by being completely dormant. During periods where it is in this mode, it survives on food that it stores in its tail. Its venom has been used to treat diabetes and it is currently being researched for any other medicinal properties that it may have.
Link: tinyurl.com/22cpau
Al Gore is the new Mother Theresa
By awarding the Nobel peace prize to Al Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the world community sent out a strong message about the importance of climate change. I can hear the weeping of thousands of climate change deniers across the world. Let’s hope they soon become an extinct species.
