“What may be the oldest known remains of a polar bear have been uncovered on the Svalbard archipelago in the Arctic. The jawbone was pulled from sediments that suggest the specimen is perhaps 110,000 or 130,000 years old..“We have this specimen that confirms the polar bear was a morphologically distinct species at least 100,000 years ago, and this basically means that the polar bear has already survived one interglacial period…“This is just how I interpret it. But this is science - when you have little data, you have lots of freedom.“…”

The Zoomable Carina Nebula.

“…Only recently have data supported any direct role for the symbiotic bacteria in the gut of the termite in cellulose and xylan hydrolysis. Here we use a metagenomic analysis of the bacterial community resident in the hindgut paunch of a wood-feeding ‘higher’ Nasutitermes species (which do not contain cellulose-fermenting protozoa) to show the presence of a large, diverse set of bacterial genes for cellulose and xylan hydrolysis….” Full Slice

Commentary

“We demonstrate an unconventional and revolutionary method for selective inactivation of micro-organisms by using near-infrared femtosecond laser pulses…This strategy targets the mechanical (vibrational) properties of micro organisms, and thus its antimicrobial efficacy is likely unaffected by genetic mutation in the micro-organisms. Such a method may be effective against a wide variety of drug resistant micro-organisms and has broad implications in disinfection as well as in the development of novel treatments for viral and bacterial pathogens…” Full Slice

Paper in PDF

“…previous research that showed that people unconsciously judge the competence of an unfamiliar face within a tenth of a second, and he has moved it to the political arena. His lab tests show that a rapid appraisal of the relative competence of two candidates’ faces was sufficient to predict the winner in about 70 percent of the races for U.S. senator and state governor in the 2006 elections.

“We never told our test subjects they were looking at candidates for political office — we only asked them to make a gut reaction response as to which unfamiliar face appeared more competent,…The findings suggest that fast, unreflective judgments based on a candidate’s face can affect voting decisions.”…” Full Slice

“…Both the atmospheres of Mars and Venus are composed of 95% carbon dioxide, although Venus’s atmosphere is much thicker than the one at Mars. The American team suggested that the signature could be coming from an isotope of carbon dioxide, where one oxygen atom is ‘normal’, with eight protons and eight neutrons, while the other has eight protons and ten neutrons. Such an isotope makes up about 1% of carbon dioxide on Earth; the rest contains two normal oxygen atoms…The different weights of the oxygen atoms allow the molecule to alter its vibration in two ways simultaneously, whereas normal molecules can only change one state at a time.

This rare transition allows it to absorb even more energy and so contribute even more to the greenhouse effect on Venus….” Full Slice

“…”A lot of Americans might expect that global climate change would cause extremely high daytime temperatures in the summer,” he said. “But in Ohio at least, the high temperatures haven’t been changing — it’s the overnight low temperatures that have been creeping up. That means the average temperature over the 24-hour period is creeping up as well.”…” Full Slice

Access journal abstract

“SABLE-3 was launched on Saturday, August 11th, 2007, at 9:31 AM with a payload…that the Kaysam 1200 gram balloon carried to over 117,597 feet…” Full Slice (w/photos !) - Good science learning project for just about anyone.

“New scientific findings suggest that a large comet may have exploded over North America 12,900 years ago, explaining riddles that scientists have wrestled with for decades, including an abrupt cooling of much of the planet and the extinction of large mammals…The period in question is called the Younger Dryas, an interval of abrupt cooling that lasted for about 1,000 years and occurred at the beginning of an inter-glacial warm period. Evidence for the temperature change is recorded in marine sediments and ice cores…” Full Slice

Access paper in PDF format

“…a chance encounter between spacecraft Ulysses and Comet McNaught’s ion tail has scientists…marveling at a stroke of luck and some surprising data…Instrument readings showed there was “complex chemistry” at play…Not only did SWICS detect unexpected ions in the comet tail, it found that the tail had a major impact on the surrounding solar wind…”We’re still in the process of figuring out what it tells us…We’re contributing part of the whole puzzle.”…” Full Slice

“…“Our findings suggest that lifespan regulation is linked to metabolic regulation…“The findings also suggest a tight connection between aging and diabetes. And we may have a new laboratory model for studying diabetes and other metabolic diseases.”” Full Slice

Nick Szabo’s blog is the first one I’ve mentioned, here on Baloney, that I specifically recommend.

Craig Venter’s genome is the first to have transcribed itself accurately and entirely into a completely different medium: this interactive, zoomable poster.

“…”The differences we observed were independent of other known risk factors for inflammation, such as health status, age, weight, and medication use. The changes were even independent of the objective size of a person’s social network. What counts, at the level of gene expression, is not how many people you know, it’s how many you feel really close to over time.”…” Full Slice

“Sea ice extent continues to decline, and is now at 4.42 million square kilometers (1.70 million square miles), falling yet further below the record absolute minimum of 5.32 million square kilometers (2.05 million square miles) that occurred on September 20–21, 2005…” Full Slice