Over at Cryptomundo "The Top 10 Cryptozoology Stories of 2009." Some old news: including the eating of a near-extinct bird, baby coelacanths, and alligators in the sewers. Others were news to me: an African Pygmy Hippo killed in Australia, the rediscovery of a species of crow and turtle thought to be extinct, and the quest for black panthers in Europe.
The Dyche Natural History Museum at the University of Kansas has this almost hidden little room in the basement where you can go in, close a curtain, flip on a blacklight and watch as a collection of seemingly ordinary rocks light up with a fluorescent glow. This series of images, taken by photographer Louise Murray, reminds me of how much I like that room at the Dyche. Only, instead of rocks, Murray snaps photos of coral, fish and other sea creatures, using a portable blue light.
Fluorescent colors are produced by cells responding to certain wavelengths of light hitting them - causing the cell to emit its own light on a different wavelength, which creates a different color. Traffic cones and highlighter pens are just two everyday examples of fluorescing objects that humans can detect without any equipment. Above ground people can usually pick up other fluorescing objects using ultra violet lights.
The air archive maintained by CSIRO started in 1978, and contains samples of clean air from a station at Cape Grim, Tasmania. It’s the oldest such archive in the world. Now with Allport’s tank, last used in 1970, the record has been extended further.
The air contained traces of propellants, refrigerants and emissions form aluminium smelters. Paul Fraser, who leads CSIRO’s greenhouse gas research team says that the scuba tank is going to be really useful: “If tanks were filled in a clean coastal environment their usefulness in measuring greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and chloro-flurocarbons (CFCs) is much broader,” he says.
Investors might have done better simply stuffing their money under a mattress.
Federal officials are getting closer toward regulating pharmaceuticals in the water supply.
Andrew Kaplan, whose company oversees $1 billion, is in a spat with a global energy firm.
Phony calls from banks are just one tactic con artists use to trick people out of their money.
Russian hackers may have stolen tens of millions from Citibank, the Wall Street Journal reports.
The royal heir trades palace linens for a patch of concrete in a cold London alley.
A U.S. commander justifies a new policy calling for penalties for troops who get pregnant.
David Tepper's hedge fund earned a whopping $7 billion by betting against the U.S. recession.
Testers pick their favorites among top choices great for gift giving or simply for eating.
A federal court ordered the software giant to stop due to a patent violation.
Keep your income under a certain level, and the IRS won't bother you 99 percent of the time.
The Republicans are going to block every single thing the Democrats attempt to do. They are single-mindedly focused on taking back control of the Congress, and blocking Obama's agenda to better help a Republican take the White House in 2012. This should not surprise anyone. The real question is what effect will this have on the Obama administration's and the Democratic Congress' approach on climate change. Will they still try to work out a bipartisan deal with members of Congress who has already said they want to block this deal?
This is setting us up for a repeat of the health care debate. It's all going to come down to 60 votes, and 60 Democrats and Independents. The White House needs to launch a campaign, now, to get this legislation passed, to build public support, and ultimately pressure recalcitrant Democrats and Indies to support the legislation - if you can build enough support with the public, you can sometimes pressure members of Congress to do the right thing. But as we found with health care reform, if you don't build enough support, members of both parties start to go rogue.
The President needs to get over his aversion to controversy, and the White House needs to start campaigning hard, now, for the best deal. Let's all work together and do this. For real this time.
Image via NASA's Earth Observatory
NASA's Earth Observatory has released this incredible photo of the snow storm that hit the east coast over the weekend. To see such an enormous patch of land completely covered in white is impressive. Covering 300 miles lengthwise, the satellite image shows the Potomac and Susquehanna Rivers from the Appalachian Mountains to the Chesapeake Bay.
Webdesigner depot has 60 beautiful satellite photos of Earth.
"The Dasht-e Kevir, or valley of desert, is the largest desert in Iran. It is a primarily uninhabited wasteland, composed of mud and salt marshes covered with crusts of salt that protect the meager moisture from completely evaporating."
Microbes entombed in a salt crystal have survived for 30,000 years by feeding off the remains of algae that were trapped along with them. |  | A bird-like dinosaur that prowled an ancient forest 125 million years ago used venom to subdue its prey, a new theory says. |
Here are financial tasks you should get done before 2010 begins — and ones that can wait.
Iran's leader accuses the American government of an elaborate deception.
Kim Peek, the man who inspired the Oscar-winning movie "Rain Man," has died at age 58.
