Archive for the ‘science’ category

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Rabid Raccoons in Central Park!

December 9, 2009

– – Be afraid, be very afraid…of the rabid raccoons in New York City’s Central Park, that is!  You may also want to stay away from skunks, bats, and stray dogs and cats…(hey, I rhymed!)

The advisory was issued by health officials Monday, who believe that rabies is being transmitted among raccoons in the park.  Three rabid raccoons have been discovered at Central Park, two of them in the past week!   While rabid raccoons are rare in Manhattan, four have been identified so far this year.

Rabies is a viral disease that is usually transmitted from a bite or scratch by an infected animal; if not treated promptly, it can be fatal.  There hasn’t been a human rabies infection in New York City since 1953…

Categories: animal occurrences, animals, anomalies, science, strange happenings, unexplained
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Turkeys and T-Rex…

November 27, 2009

– – Dinosaurs, like turkeys, had a wishbone, called a furcula.–I love that name so much I wish I had one, too…fur-cula! It was really the fusion of two collarbones at the sternum, where a bird’s flying muscles link up.  It’s elastic and great for flying.

Turns out that T-Rex and the Velociraptor had wishbones, too.  While they of course didn’t fly*, this discovery is one of the many bits of evidence that shows birds evolved from dinosaurs!

(*Wouldn’t a flying Velociraptor be extremely cool, though?)

– –Happy Thanksgiving from Foxsylvania, BTW!

Categories: animals, cool things, evolution, science
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Anniversary of Evolutionary Theory

November 25, 2009

– – It was 150 years ago (1859) that Charles Darwin released his theory of evolution, a cornerstone of the sciences…

…and yet, evolution remains controversial in some circles 150 years later…

Categories: evolution, science
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The Lure of the Horrible

November 10, 2009

CreepshowThere’s a wonderful scene in the 1982 movie of Stephen King’s Creepshow showing a young boy who spots a monster outside of his window.  The expression on the boy’s face, however, is one of adoration rather than terror.- – I’m sure that many of us can relate to this!

– – Horror movies…why do we like them?–Well, social scientists suggest that we watch for different reasons which include the adrenaline rush, being distracted from mundane life, vicariously thumbing our noses at social norms, and enjoying a voyeuristic view of the horrific from a safe distance.– But above all, being scared is fun!

Neuroscientists like New York University’s Joseph LeDouz point out that fear is not merely a biological reaction, but an emotion derived from deep-seeded evolutionary factors as well as newly-learned cautions.  An interaction between the brain’s primitive amygdala and the higher cortex allows people to interpret an environmental event and respond with an emotion such as fear.  Once an emotion is aroused in the amygdala, it’s hard to turn it off, and if we like that sort of thing, we’re eager to turn that emotion on again.

…and this is why some of us suffer from a post-Halloween let-down, similar to that depression suffered by others after Xmas!–Ahh, for the Nightmare Before Christmas!

Categories: movies, psychology, science
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Stuck On You!

October 4, 2009

gecko– –  Well, the Geico Gecko has a great Cockney accent, and the SoBe beverages lizards have dance moves to make the late Michael Jackson proud…but scientists for years have been fascinated with the gecko, because of his uncanny ability to climb the smoothest of surfaces and hang there, by a single toe if necessary.

A Pennsylvania professor has found that a gecko’s toes have millions of very small hairs, each one-tenth the width of a human hair.  At the end of each hair are hundreds of saucerlike structures called spatula. Weak forces of attraction hold each spatula to a surface, and the combined force from millions of hairs create a powerful bond that enables the gecko to stick to nearly anything.

Hopes are to commercialize on the gecko’s adhesive ability …a good bet, since the gecko has been commercial gold, already!     Thriller Dancing Lizards

Categories: animal oddities, animals, science, television
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Large Squid Found in Gulf of Mexico

September 24, 2009

ADDITION Giant Squid– – A 19-1/2 foot, 103 pound squid was netted by accident in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana in late July, with the photos just released.  Researchers were trawling 1,500 feet below the gulf’s surface to study dietary habits of sperm whales when the squid was brought to the surface, not surviving the rapid ascent through the changing depths.

The squid was described as being the size of an SUV, and is rare with the species not having been spotted in the Gulf of Mexico since 1954.   The preserved squid won’t wind up as calamari, but will be sent to the Smithsonian…

Categories: animal oddities, animals, rare animal, science
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–Hitler’s Escape?

September 19, 2009

Cat Hitler– -Did Adolf Hitler escape the closing grip of Allied troops on Berlin during the final days of Nazi Germany in World War II, and somehow get spirited to Argentina or elsewhere?–Yes he did, ultimately to be reincarnated as a cat…

Seriously, though, the opening episode of MysteryQuest considered the question of whether Hitler had indeed escaped his bunker, with a body double in some accounts having been used in the dictator’s supposed suicide.  The Soviets did retain some fragmentary and minimal remains said to be those of Hitler, including a bloody couch and a skull fragment complete with a bullet hole.  MysteryQuest was permitted a very brief examination of the remains, bringing back photos and even small samples.  Some interesting conclusions were reached…

…photos and examination suggested that the sutures joining the skull plates were relatively open, as would be characteristic of a younger person in the age range of 20 to 40 years, rather than a man of Hitler’s age.  Furthermore, the bone itself was not as thick or robust as is usually seen in males, and is more characteristic of a female! DNA was successfully extracted from the samples, and was conclusively found to be female as well.

While these findings do not prove that Hitler escaped his bunker, they do suggest that the remains housed by the Soviets could not be those of Hitler…Do I think that Hitler escaped Berlin and survived?–Not bloody well likely…but for a really cool story about Hitler cloning, check out The Boys from Brazil, novel by Ira Levin or movie featuring Gregory Peck…

Categories: medical, mysteries, science, television, unexplained
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New Species in New Guinea

September 7, 2009

extinct vulcano— It’s getting increasingly hard to find anywhere in the world where the foot of man has not trod, and erected a Starbucks…but even in today’s world, explorers are still able to find a few undiscovered places and new species along with it!

One such place is Papua, New Guinea where scientists in a remote mountainous region (pictured) have discovered more than 50 new animal species that include spiders, tree frogs, and a striped gecko that appear to have never been described in scientific literature before.  One of the spiders is shiny and pale green, and there’s a bug-eyed bright green tree frog.  Frogs are often regarded as a great bioindicator of environmental health, with declines in frogs pointing to an affected or changing environment.

My favorite discovery, however, was described as being a giant but friendly vegetarian rat, who may turn out to be the largest in the world.   A tree-dwelling marsupial was found that looks like a bear, and also discovered  was a frog with fangs (should be perfect for the upcoming Halloween)!    kanga_new_guinea

Categories: animals, cool things, environmental, rare animal, science
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Cadaver Dogs Obsolete?

August 25, 2009

cadaver dog— Jeez!–Even cadaver dogs may be replaced by electronics someday!  Cadaver dogs need to be fed and housed, ‘ya see, and require expert handling.–It’s science to the rescue!

Two Pennsylvania State University researchers are analyzing the smell of corpses looking to automate the process of detecting them.  Now fresh human corpses are hard to get in time, since it usually takes at least three days to get permission forms and other bothersome arrangements.  The solution is to use pig cadavers, since pigs decay at the same rate as humans and go through the same phases of decomposition.–Dang thoughtful of them!–Dead pigs are being put into small wooden chambers for the research.–Buried pigs?–Lucky stiffs!

Now the composition of chemicals released by corpses changes over time, with some acids released earlier, some later, and yet others in a rather uniform fashion.  An electronic nose could detect changes in the electrical conductivity of various substances when they absorb target molecules, and help establish time of death for use in murder investigations as well as aide in the detection of bodies.

While more research is needed, I guess I’ll have to abandon my in-home program of study to be a cadaver-detecting canine…something smells rotten, here!


Categories: animals, furry, science
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Tigers in the Suburbs?

August 20, 2009

panther— By most accounts, the big cat population in upstate New York was eliminated by the early 20th century; how then to explain a series of eyewitness reports of seeing them there, in particular large black cats?  The mountain lion is believed to be the only large cat to exist freely in the U.S.–Are people seeing an escaped exotic pet?

It’s MonsterQuest to the rescue, setting up thermal-sensing cameras and sending out decoy calls to lure the elusive cats!  As usual, deer, raccoon, squirrels, and even lynx were detected by the cameras.  The cameras revealed food sources sufficient to support a large cat.  More intriguingly, claw marks were found on a tree, and tracks were found that match those of the leopard…

…additionally, more lions and tigers are believed to be in private ownership than exist in zoos!  The first leopard arrived in the United States in 1768, with the first tigers brought in in 1806.  Sadly, there is little or no regulation by most states on the private ownership of exotic animals.  An animal who is fun when adopted as a cub grows up to be a predator, and “there is no such thing as a tame wild animal.”

MonsterQuest additionally performed a DNA analysis of 30 captive tigers, finding that over half showed moderate to severe inbreeding; this leads to increased genetic abnormalities which in turn can cause behavioral abnormalities, including increased aggression.  Such aggression can lead to cases like that cited by MonsterQuest of a couple hiking that were attacked and mauled by a large cat in January of 2007.

The conclusion of the MonsterQuest team was that big cats are out there in the eastern United States, but are not easily found…and as the poet once wrote, “If called by a panther,/don’t answer!”


Categories: animals, anomalies, rare animal, science, television, unexplained, unidentified
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