Two Toronto teenagers, Mathew Ho and Asad Muhammad. sent a Lego minifigure carrying a Canadian flag into space. Four cameras were attached to a helium balloon carrying the Lego man. The teens also designed a parachute for the return to Earth. The Guardiansays the Lego minifigure and the cameras were recovered about 122 kilometers (75.8 miles) from the launch site. The Starsays the craft climbed to about 80,000 feet before the helium balloon exploded. Take a look:
Experiment Suspending Fruit Flies in a Magnetic Field Shows They Navigate Using Sunlight
Scientists studied fruit flies in a magnetic field to determine how the tiny insects use the polarization pattern of natural skylight to keep their bearings during flight. Scientists attached fruit flies to a metal pin with a light-cured glue and then placed the pin in a magentic field. The suspended fruit flies were tracked using digital cameras. The researchers found that flies turned when the angle of naturally polarized light was rotated.
During the hour before and the hour after sunset, the headings of flies relative to the position of the arena were recorded for 12 minutes. The arena was rotated 90 degrees every three minutes, and when natural light was not altered by optical filters some of the flies compensated for the rotations and maintained a consistent heading.
When the arena was covered with a circularly polarizing filter, eliminating natural linear polarization light patterns, the flies did not shift their heading significantly in response to arena rotations.
Here is a video of the fruit fly executing a "body saccade" or a quick turn in the experiment:
The research was published here in Cell Press's Current Biology journal.
This National Geographic video shows a cone snail hunting by using its . harpoonlike tooth that can be propelled from an extendable proboscis. The harpoon is loaded with a complex mix of toxins. A cone snail can be seen blasting a fish with its harpoon out in the open. Another cone snail buries itself in the sand and then attacks a fish with its toxic harpoon from below. It then swallows the fish whole. Take a look:
National Geographicsays the Geographic Cone Snail (Conus geographus) is the most venomous of the 500 known cone snail species.
Newt Gingrich Promises to Build a Permanent Moonbase if Elected President
Someday there will be humans living permanently on the moon. The big question is how much longer we will have to wait. A lot of the waiting depends on how much funding NASA can get for its big projects. Funding for NASA is not something that comes up much in either Republican or Democratic political circles these days. Well, that just changed. Perhaps bored of taking potshots at Mitt Romney for being wealthy, GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich decided to throw space into the conversation. NPRreports that Gingrich promised a permanent base on the moon. He made the promise during a campaign stop on Florida's Space Coast. NPR says Gingrich promised a permanent base on the moon by the end of his second term. Apparently, Gingrich expects not only to win, but to also get reelected.
With the Florida primary coming up, Gingrich is most likely just trying to garner votes with the lure of an exciting project: after all, he would have to be elected twice to the presidency before he delivers on this promise. Gingrich is extremely polarizing figure. Children's author Maurice Sendak recently said Gingrich is an "idiot of great renown." Sendak says there is "something so hopelessly gross and vile about him."
Even though Gingrich may be a vile politican, the idea for a moonbase is still a great one and it is not a far fetched idea. NASA unveiled plans to establish a lunar base, including eventual settlement, in 2006. NASA also has a game on its site called Moonbase Alpha.
Space.com describes the plans for space from President Obama, Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich in an article here. They all fall far short of the ambitious plans for space exploration that really need to implemented if we want to see most of the solar system colonized within the next twenty or thirty years.
Cowboy Frog, Armored Catfish Among Creatures Discovered in Suriname
Conservation International (CI) has announced the results of a scientific survey in southwest Suriname that documented nearly 1,300 species, including 46 species which may be new to science.
The new creatures include a Cowboy Frog, which has white fringes along its legs and a spur on its "heel." The frog was discovered low on a small branch during a night survey in a swampy area of the Koetari River.
Another creature that is new to science is the Armored Catfish, a catfish which is covered in spines to defend itself from the piranhas that inhabit the same waters.
Another creature discovered during the survey is the Crayola katydid, which has striking coloration. You can find more photographs of some of the newly discovered species here and here. There is also a set of photographs here of creatures already known to science that were found in Suriname.
NASA Releases Stunning High Resolution Blue Marble Image of Earth
NASA has released a 'Blue Marble' image of the Earth taken from the VIIRS instrument aboard Suomi NPP, NASA's most recently launched Earth-observing satellite. The composite image uses a number of swaths of the Earth's surface taken on January 4, 2012.
You can see an amazing huge 8000x8000 pixel version of the Blue Marble image here on Flickr. Click on the link "original" on the top right of the page to see the giant image.
Video: High-Speed Photography Shows How Cats Land on Their Feet
This high-speed photography of a falling cat shows how cats always land on their feet. The falling cat first rotates its head, then twists its spine and aligns its rear quarters. The cat also simultaneously arches its back to reduce the force of impact. The National Geographic video also discusses High-Rise Syndrome. Curious cats can fall from high-rise apartments. Even if they survive the fall and land on their feet, they can still be seriously injured. Cats tend to be more injured from short falls than from falls from higher altitudes, because they don't have enough time to adjust their posture. Take a look:
Tiny Fairyfly Wasp Lays Its Eggs Inside Leafhopper Eggs
A tiny fairyfly wasp was discovered by an entomologist at the University of California, Riverside in upstate New York in August, 2010. The wasp had never been seen in the U.S. before this date. Now the wasp has been found a year later in Irvine, California. Serguei Triapitsyn, the entomologist who found the wasp, says the find suggests the wasp is becoming well established in the U.S.
Gonatocerus ater is just 1 mm long. It arrived in North America from Europe. It lays eggs inside the eggs of leafhoppers. Leafhopper females like to lay their eggs inside plant tissue. Fairyfly wasp females locate the leafhopper eggs and lay their own eggs inside them. When the wasp eggs hatch, the larvae eat the leafhopper eggs.
Serguei Triapitsyn, director of the Entomology Research Museum, says, "This wasp was accidentally introduced in North America. It most likely got here in parasitized eggs of the leafhoppers in twigs of Lombardy poplar seedlings coming from Europe, perhaps long ago."
The tiny little wasp poses no known risk, except to leafhoppers.
Triapitsyn says, "It actually helps naturally control leafhopper numbers. In its absence, leafhopper populations could have skyrocketed. This illustrates how plant pests are sometimes accompanied by their natural enemies across very long distances without our knowledge."
Photo: Jason Mottern, UC Riverside Department of Entomology
IEEE's Automaton blog says you should not make robot babies. See their infographic of many of the robot babies that have been made to date, such as Yotaro. This new creepy robot baby is yet more proof Automaton is right. The robot was built by Chris Clarke for CNFX Workshop. Take a look:
Shrewbot: Scientists Build Robot With Whiskers Based on Etruscan Shrew
The Etruscan shrew has inspired scientists to build the Shrewbot. The Etruscan shrew is a nocturnal hunter. The shrew uses its whiskers to find, track and capture its prey, which are often the same size as itself. The efficiency of this tiny creature inspired the scientists to look at ways of replicating the shrew's whiskers to enable robots to find their way around without the use of vision. Take a look:
Professor Tony Prescott (University of Sheffield) says, "When the whiskers touch an object this causes them to vibrate and the vibration pattern is picked up by sensitive cells in the hair follicle at the base of the whisker. These patterns are turned into an electrical signal which is sent to the brain, enabling the mammal to make instant decisions about its environment to help it move around or catch prey. The whiskers have another advantage over some other forms of tactile touch. Whiskers themselves are easily replaceable since the sensory cells are at the base of the whisker, not the top, unlike our fingers for example, which are more easily damaged and hard to replace."
The Shrewbot was developed at Bristol Robotics Laboratory (BRL) in collaboration with the University of Sheffield Active Touch Laboratory as part of the BIOTACT project. Professor Tony Pipe (UWE Bristol) and Professor Tony Prescott (University of Sheffield) are working on the Shrewbot project with a number of partners.
U.S. Navy Has Trained Dolphins Ready if Iran Mines the Strait of Hormuz
CNN reports that the U.S. Navy plans to involve its trained dolphins in the Strait of Hormuz if Iran mines it. The trained dolphins are very real. They have been trained to mark or locate sea mines. They are described on this page of the U.S. Navy's website as the MK4 Marine Mammal System.
The MK 4 MMS uses dolphins for detecting and/or marking the location of sea mines that are tethered off the ocean bottom. These deep-water mines are easy targets for the dolphin's highly effective echolocation. The MK 4 MMS offers reliable and effective mine detection, classification, and marking capabilities in areas that are highly cluttered or where rough seabed, high marine growth, and other complex acoustic conditions hamper the performance of Navy hardware systems.
The Navy has also trained dolphins to find mines sitting on the ocean bottom or buried in sediment. The can also help identify safe corridors for the initial landing of troops during a land invasion.
If Iran decides to mine the Strait of Hormuz to slow the transport of oil then the U.S. Navy may put some of its trained dolphins to work to locate the mines so they can be destroyed or deactivated. Iran recently threatened to block the Strait of Hormuz oil route, but Iran makes a lot of threats it never acts on.
CNN says the U.S. Navy has been training the dolphins for years. Fish rewards, particularly sardines, are used to train the dolphins. The dolphins would be airlifted to the Strait of Hormuz if they are needed. Take a look:
Scientists Determine That Dung Beetles Dance on Dung Balls to Orientate Themselves
Scientists recently conducted experiments to determine why dung beetles dance on top of the dung balls they make before rolling them away. Dung beetles roll their dung beetles in a straight path away from the pile of dung after they have made them. Researchers say this straight-line orientation helps dung beetles avoid having their dung balls stolen by other dung beetles. Here is a video of a dung beetle dancing and then rolling the dung ball away.
In a research paper published in PLoS One, scientists hypothesize that the dung beetle dance is a "visually mediated mechanism that facilitates straight-line orientation in ball-rolling dung beetles by allowing them to 1) establish a roll bearing and 2) return to this chosen bearing after experiencing a disturbance to the roll path."
The researchers, led by Emily Baird of Lund University in Sweden, conducted several experiments on a farm in North-West Province, South Africa to determine why dung beetles dance on dung balls. The experiments involved letting the beetles roll dung balls into tunnels and then turning the tunnels, introducing obstacles in the tunnels or using semi-circular experimental tunnels to force the beetles off course. The researchers found that beetles would typically stop and dance on their dung balls when presented with course changes or obstacles. This suggests that the dance helps the beetles reorient themselves and stay on course.
Here is a video of a dung beetle stopping to dance after being forced off course by a semi-circular tunnel and a video of a dung beetle stopping to dance after falling from a tricky ramp put in its path by the researchers. Take a look:
NASA scientists have found that 2011 was the ninth warmest year since 1880. Nine of the ten top warmest years (since 1880) have occurred since 2000. The map above map shows temperature anomalies in 2011. It shows how much warmer or cooler each region was in 2011 compared with an averaged base period from 1951–1980.
The carbon dioxide level is also rising. NASA says the carbon dioxide level was about 285 parts per million in 1880. By 1960, the average concentration had risen to 315 parts per million and today it exceeds 390 parts per million. NASA says the carbon dioxide level is still climbing.
NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) director James Hansen says, "So we are continuing to see a trend toward higher temperatures. Even with the cooling effects of a strong La Nina influence and low solar activity for the past several years, 2011 was one of the ten warmest years on record."
Hansen says record-breaking global average temperatures are expected in the next two to three years. He says, "It's always dangerous to make predictions about El Nino, but it's safe to say we'll see one in the next three years. It won’t take a very strong El Niño to push temperatures above 2010."
Boa Constrictors Can Sense Heartbeat of Dying Prey
Researchers have found that boa constrictors can sense the heartbeat of their prey. This ability enables boas to relax their grip and conserve energy once their prey's heart stops beating.
Researchers at Dickinson College, lead by Dr. Scott Boback, conducted a study to see if boas can detect heartbeats in the prey they are attempting to squeeze the life out of. The team researchers simulated life in humanely euthanized lab rats, by created an artificial heart and implanting it in the dead rat's chest. The boas reacted to the artificial heartbeat.
Dr. Boback says, "I will never forget the first time my students and I witnessed a boa constrictor responding to the beating of a simulated heartbeat in a rat. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. The snake visibly twisted and struggled as it felt the heartbeat in the rat. At that moment I knew we had just discovered something big. As the students shifted their gaze from the snake to me and back again, I told them I had never seen anything like this before."
Take a look:
Biology professors Scott Boback and Charles Zwemer, Assistant Professor of Mathematics Jeffrey Forrester and then-biology majors Allison Hall ’10, Amanda Hayes ’10 and Katelyn McCann ’11 collaborated on the research paper that was published here in the Royal Society's Biology Letters.
An icy comet was captured by SOHO's LASCO C2 camera as it flew too close to the sun and evaporated. The comet was 150 to 300 feet long and is estimated to have the mass of an aircraft carrier. NASA says SOHO has spotted over 2000 sungrazers (comets coming close to the Sun) so far, but this is the first sungrazer death recorded on video.
Dean Pesnell, the project scientist for NASA's Solar Dynamic Observatory (SDO), says, "Comets are usually too dim to be seen in the glare of the sun's light. We've been telling people we'd never see one in SDO data."
Researchers 
