Flying an RC helicopter? Sure, that's fun for a little while. Flying an RC helicopter that can shoot both video and still photos? That's good for a lifetime of creepy stalking memories. More »
Unfamiliar with duck loving? Here are the basics: Corkscrewed vaginas and long, temporary, lymph-filled penises that uncoil in fractions of a second. Now researchers have found that some males’ members grow longer when they’re fiercely competing for a mate.
The photo we have to illustrate this magnificent mating equipment is so graphic–in a duck kind of way–that we’re putting it below the jump. As Carl Zimmer memorably put it when writing on the kinkiness of duck sex, it may not be “appropriate for ducklings.”
Last week, Yale University’s Patricia Brennan presented another finding on duck phalluses at a meeting of the Animal Behavior Society. When competing for females, it seems males of the scaup species try to out-size one another.
Brennan found this after placing male scaups in two setups. In one, seven to eight males lived with five or six females, while in the other, drakes lived in more equal numbers with females. As Science News reports, males with more competition grew longer penises–usually around 15 percent, but up to 25 percent longer than those living with more females.
She told Science News that this competition may be the reason for the bird’s unusual penis size to begin with.
“It’s really likely that having a longer penis evolved in male-male competition.”
For more about duck mating, Brennan’s research, and … videos, check out Carl Zimmer’s post.
Related content:
The Loom: Kinkiness Beyond Kinky
Discoblog: Mixed-Up, Adopted Ducks Try to Mate With the Wrong Species
Not Exactly Rocket Science: Ballistic penises and corkscrew vaginas – the sexual battles of ducks
Not Exactly Rocket Science: Infants match human words to human faces and monkey calls to monkey faces (but not quacks to duck faces)
80Beats: Mockingbird to Annoying Human: “Hey, I Know You”
Image: Patricia Brennan
I'm used to read news about exploding cellphones, laptops on fire, and even flaming USB adapters. But what explodes when your smartphone explodes? This video shows how the components inside those gadgets overload and go boom-boom. More »
Stanford engineers have figured out a new way to make solar panels that use both the sun's light and heat to generate energy. It's a discover that could double the efficiency of solar panels. More »
From the car company "Chevrolet" website........
However, from today, help is literally at hand as scientists have created a mathematical formula for the perfect handshake taking into account the twelve primary measures needed to convey respect and trust to the recipient......
The mathemat
Gadget cases, wraps and attachments that look like food are among my favorite things in the world. These iPhone 4 food cases appeal for the same reason, even if I don't exactly know what that reason is. More »
I know that much of the success I’ve enjoyed in my life and my career is because of the support and encouragement I’ve received along the way. That’s why I think it’s important to share my passion for space with kids and show them what they can accomplish if they are willing to work for it.
Over the past week, I’ve had the opportunity and privilege to volunteer with both the United Space School and the International Space Settlement Design Competition. Both programs bring students from around the world here to Houston to participate in exercises geared towards the design of future ventures in space.
This year, the United Space School has high school students grouped into four teams – mission control, science, habitat, and vehicle design – working together to plan a notional Mars exploration mission. Everyone came to UH Clear Lake last Monday with a clean slate and interviewed for placement on the teams. I helped interview for the vehicle design team, given my background in aerospace engineering.
We could all tell which kids were really enthusiastic about spacecraft and engineering. One student from Australia even said his aspiration is to be a test pilot for commercial spaceflight companies! Burt Rutan got his start in flight test engineering for the Air Force, so, why not?
On Wednesday, I came back to UH Clear Lake to talk with the United Space School students about all of the things they would need to think about for their Mars vehicle. My main point was that the design of the spacecraft would be driven by its intended purpose, thus encouraging them to come up with a vehicle that enabled the deployment of the habitat, execution of the science objectives, and safe return of the crew. The kids asked great questions about propulsion, artificial gravity, radiation issues, etc. and we easily went over my allotted time.
Honestly, I probably could have spent the entire afternoon with them and not even noticed the passage of time. =) I’m definitely going to try to make it to their graduation ceremony this weekend so I can see what they came up with.
I spent my Sunday helping with both programs. First, I briefly attended the USS Cultural Faire and brought two trays of homemade, Southern-style banana pudding. I’m told it was a big hit. For me, I think my favorites were the servings of kangaroo and emu meat that one of the mentors from Australia brought in! He said he had to find them at a specialty butcher, but find them he did. We also had various casseroles, homemade machaca, haggis on oatbread, and a plethora of desserts. I stuffed my face with rice pudding, Manchester tart, Russian pancakes, ANZAC biscuits, and various other goodies.
Unfortunately, I missed the students’ show because I had to dash over to the Gilruth Center to help with ISSDC. I spent the next seven hours on the “Red Team,” critiquing the designs and presentations of the four student teams brought to Houston for one weekend to design a 24,000-person Mars settlement. Also consisting of high school kids from all over, these kids are working fast and furious over three days to make their presentations today. Like a real competitive RFP, winner takes all.
Because of the short time-scale, we on the Red Team were merciless during our reviews. Their final presentation is almost as demanding as a real business pitch, so we did our best to prepare them for the high standards expected at the end of the competition. They were working very hard on little sleep (reminding me more than a bit of college!) and we pushed them to go the extra mile.
More interesting to me than a lot of the engineering and architecture of the main structures were the groups’ approaches to how the people inside might live. Most of the students expected to have a high level of automation, with robots doing everything from housecleaning to fire-fighting to law enforcement. We hammered them on privacy concerns when they’d suggest things like ingested or implanted RFID chips and widespread infrared cameras for security control.
We also drove home the idea that a system should only be as complex as it needs to be, otherwise you’re just introducing extra points of failure. All of the teams had to consider how to traverse Valles Marineris and most looked at elevators. We asked one team why would you need pressurized elevators for cargo trucks that are just passing through to other destinations. Another team considered using a gondola system, instead . We asked them to consider what would happen if someone built a cargo vehicle too big for the skyway.
By the time we finished, after 10:00 pm last night, we were all pretty tired and ready to go home. I think everyone had fun, though, and learned a lot from the process. I know I certainly did. If I ever go help Elon Musk build his retirement community on Mars, I know some people I’ll call. =)
I live in the UK and own a 2 Litre JTD Fiat that was made in 2000 / 2001.
It has 16 valves with single cam drive and exhaust recirculation. it is the RHW Diesal engine.
The problem that i have is that the fuel injectors do not seem to work?. The engine cranks over and fuel is being bur
I would like to take my master degree in USA. I need to know, should I go with power system engineering or control system engineering. Which one is better in nowadays.
I would like to take my master degree in USA. I need to know, should I go with power system engineering or control system engineering. Which one is better in nowadays.
Citing "potentially anticompetitive ebook deals," Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal is investigating the relationship between Apple, Amazon and publishers. Blumenthal claims Apple and Amazon have struck exclusive deals with publishers that would block smaller ebook distributors from offering better prices. [Office of the Attorney General via TechFlash] More »
From FierceHealthcare:
| By Dan Bowman |  Comment |  Forward |  Twitter |  Facebook |  LinkedIn |
As readers of FierceHealthcare and its related publications well know, despite a notion by some that combining social media and healthcare is a dangerous mix, more and more health professionals appear to be taking the leap into the online world. From Facebook fan pages for practices to social networks like Ozmosis for physicians, the future is definitely now.
So it should come as no surprise that Mayo Clinic--with its 60,000 followers on Twitter, its medical provider channel on YouTube and its several successful blogs--is launching a Center for Social Mediato "accelerate effective application of social media tools" within its own facilities, as well as to help other facilities in their efforts to connect patients and doctors online.
As Mayo's press release announcing the center points out, less than 800 of the roughly 5,000 hospitals throughout the U.S. even have a social networking presence, according to Found in Cacheblog author Ed Bennett. "This is building on the interest that we've already had," Lee Aase, manager of syndications and social media at Mayo, told the Wall Street Journal Health Blog. "There is immense interest from clinical departments--they want to be able to harness these tools to do their business."
The center will be run by about eight people and will receive $800,000 in annual funding to start, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune. Aase points out that while Mayo will charge other hospitals for consulting and giving out advice, the primary goal is to improve social media use within its own walls.
"The real focus is looking for ways to increase the use of social media throughout the practice at Mayo," Aase told the Journal. "To provide in-depth information for patients in a much more comprehensive way, and to create connections between researchers, physicians and staff."
Among the many other healthcare organizations to embrace social media is Providence, R.I.-based Lifespan. For the past year, the five hospitals of the Lifespan health system have maintained Twitter and Facebook accounts, as well as a YouTube channel for the system as a whole. On our Hospital Impact blog, Nancy Cawley Jean, Lifespan's senior media relations officer, discusses that organization's trials and tribulations.
To learn more:
- here's Mayo's press release
- check out the website for Mayo's center
- read the Wall Street Journal Health Blog interview
- read the Minneapolis Star Tribune's article
- check out charts touting Ed Bennett's statistics
- see Jean's post on the Hospital Impact blog
Another year, another DefCon, another litany of epic security fails. Like this here Biolock Model 333, a high-tech and high-priced bit of protection that surely requires expert tools and technique to override. Here's how it does against a paperclip: More »
Just over 100 days after oil started gushing into the Gulf of Mexico, BP says they will embark, later today or tomorrow, on a “static kill” effort that may just seal the leak once and for all.
Perhaps remembering the company’s repeated failures to stanch the flow over these past months, some officials are calling the maneuver only one possible solution. National Incident Commander Thad Allen said:
“Static kill is not the end all, be all.” [The Telegraph]
Still some hope it is; said Darryl Bourgoyne, director of the Petroleum Engineering Research Lab at Louisiana State University:
“It could be the beginning of the end.” [AP]
Temporary fix or permanent plug, here’s how BP will do it:
Step 1 — Temporary Cap (Check.)
As DISCOVER blogger Andrew Moseman put it on July 16th, “Do you hear that? That’s the sound of oil not gushing uncontrollably into the Gulf of Mexico from BP’s leak, for the first time in nearly three months.” BP has had a temporary seal in place for two weeks and it seems to be holding. But leaving just that seal in place would be foolhardy, experts say:
“No one has come out and said the well has full integrity,” said Greg McCormack, program director of the Petroleum Extension Service at the University of Texas, Austin, suggesting that it was still possible for the well to leak before the relief well was completed. For that reason, he said, the static kill operation makes sense to potentially kill the well two weeks earlier than the relief well would. “This is just an ultraconservative approach,” Mr. McCormack said, “and at this point in time we should be taking the most conservative approaches. I can’t see any risk.” [New York Times]
Step 2 — Static Kill: First Mud, Then Concrete
While the temporary cap keeps the oil under control from above, the static kill will require the company to block the flow from underneath the seal–a “bottom kill”–providing multiple layers to protect the Gulf from more oil. First engineers will pump mud underneath the cap. If the pressure remains stable and the mud forces oil down into its reservoir, then they will follow the mud with concrete. Engineers installed the lines to pump these materials into the Gulf’s depths during a similar (failed) top kill effort.
If the static kill attempt sounds familiar, that’s because it is. The company tried a similar process, called a top kill, to choke the well with mud in May. It failed partly because the mud couldn’t overcome the flow of the oil. There’s reason to hope this time will be different. For one, the oil is no longer freely flowing from the well, thanks to the temporary cap. That means that engineers won’t have to pump in mud with as much force, [BP executive Kent] Wells said. [AP]
Step 3 — Relief Wells and Clean Up
Even if the static kill appears to succeed, BP will continue to dig two relief wells as another backup. The relief wells are expected to intersect the original pipe just above the spot where it enters the oil reservoir (about 18,000 feet below the ocean’s surface), and will be used to pour in mud and cement.
Of course, another next step is to continue cleaning up the oil. As many reported last week, that oil seems to be disappearing from the Gulf’s surface, apparently as a result of evaporation, oil-eating bacteria, dispersion from storms, and clean-up efforts, such as controlled burns. But as tar balls continue to land on Gulf shores, some question the oil’s deeper damage.
“Less oil on the surface does not mean that there isn’t oil beneath the surface, however, or that our beaches and marshes are not still at risk,” Jane Lubchenco, administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said in a briefing on Tuesday. “We are extremely concerned about the short-term and long-term impacts to the gulf ecosystem.” [New York Times]
Related content:
80beats: One Cap Off, One Cap On: BP Tries Another Plan To Catch Leaking Oil
80beats: BP Oil Update: Tar Balls in Texas & Lake Pontchartrain
80beats: Gulf Coast Turtle News: No More Fiery Death; Relocating 70,000 Eggs
80beats: Next from X Prize: An Award for Cleaning up BP’s Oil Spill?
Image: BP
After figuring out how to use the iPhone 4's FaceTime feature over 3G, the obvious question was how much data does it use? According to a brief test by 9to5Mac, about three megabytes a minute. More »
"Committee staff received several allegations about contract misconduct by the management and acquisitions staff of the Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). These all related to large support contracts managed out of the Center. Many of the allegations were tied to the current Space Communications Networks Services (SCNS) contract competition. After a thorough review of the materials provided to the Committee by NASA and others and many interviews by Committee staff of both current and former National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) employees, contractor employees involved in the SCNS competition from ITT, Honeywell and outside consulting firms, and discussions with contract law specialists at the Government Accountability Office (GAO) and the Congressional Research Service, we believe that staff at GSFC have engaged in conduct that is inconsistent with either the provisions of the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) or the agencys own rules. The result is that the SCNS competition has been skewed in such a fashion that, at a minimum, creates the appearance of the agency favoring one bidder over another."
I've seen plenty of nerdy wedding cakes here in el Giz del Modo—some of them totally disgusting. And every time I can't help to admire the courage of the groom and the patience of the bride. [Thanks Karl!] More »
May 1 – October 3, 2010
Museo dell’Automobile Bonfanti-Vimar, Romano d’Ezzelino (VI)
Between office jobs, motorised transport, the Internet and television, it’s never been easier to be inactive. Many humans in Western countries are masters at conserving energy but in the rainforests of Borneo and Sumatra, there is an animal that would put hardened couch potatoes to shame – the orang-utan. These apes are no slackers – they lead active lives in the jungle canopy. But relative to their size, they still use up less energy than any other mammal except for sloths.
Herman Pontzer from Washington University, who made the discovery, thinks that orangutans have evolved to live life in the slow lane because they can’t be sure of a steady food supply. They mostly eat fresh fruit and, being large animals, they need lots of it. But rainforests are chaotic places where ripe fruit can disappear quickly, unpredictably and for a long time. If orangutans aren’t getting any fuel, they have to minimise the amount of energy they spend, so that they don’t starve to death. And they’re very good at it.
This has many implications for zookeepers who care for captive orangutans. These are animals that eat as much as they can when food is around and burn off their calories very slowly – they’re easy to overfeed and prone to obesity, even in enclosures with plenty of opportunities for exercise. Learning about the energy needs of these great apes will allow keepers to plan more appropriate diets for them.
It’s a lesson that the staff of the Great Ape Trust sanctuary are taking to heart. The sanctuary, a sprawling 230-acre campus in Des Moines, is where Pontzer carried out his research. He studied four of the resident orangutans, including Azy, an adult male; Katy and Knobi, , adult females; and a young male called Rocky.
Pontzer tracked their activity with a technique commonly used in humans. The method involves ‘doubly-labelled water’, made of rarer and heavier versions of the normal hydrogen and oxygen atoms. These heavy atoms can be tracked as they make their way through the body, whether they end up in the animal’s urine or in the carbon dioxide it breathes out. In fact, the amount that ends up in these two waste products is related. So by taking regular urine samples, Pontzer could work out how hard the orangutans were breathing out, and thus how much energy they were using up.
It turned out that they were using very little indeed. All the orangutans, including Rocky the youngster, were in the bottom 1% of all mammals in terms of the calories they burn every day. Adjusting for their size, they use less energy than humans from industrial societies, where inactive lifestyles are common. They even use less than macaque monkeys on a strict diet or lemurs undergoing temporary hibernation.
You might think that captive orangutans might be more lethargic than their wild cousins, but that’s not the case for Azy and his chums. Their enclosure comes with climbing frames, rope and easy access to a three-acre forest, where they spend much of their days. The four apes spent around the same amount of time feeding, resting and sleeping as their wild counterparts, and they walked and climbed over similar distances. They may be more familiar with their surroundings and know the easiest routes, but even if they spent twice as much energy moving around, they’d still burn fewer daily calories than almost all other mammals.
Of course, Pontzer only studied four orangutans but these individuals are hardly sluggish members of the species. They’re as active as their wild peers and they get in about as much exercise as human farmers who lead physically demanding lives. They have lively existences, but they use their energy very efficiently. When they’re at rest, their metabolic rates are slightly lower than expected for their size and much lower than in humans and chimps. The odds of finding four humans that use similar levels of energy, even in a Western population, are 1 in 10,000.
The orangutan’s extremely sparing use of energy is just part of an entire lifestyle that takes place in the slow lane. It grows more slowly than any primate except for humans, and it breeds less frequently than any ape. It lives alone so it doesn’t have to share any food it managed to find. It even moves with incredible efficiency – rather than jumping across an opening in the treetops, it can rock the tree it sits on so they sway across the gap. All of these traits make orangutans “consummate low-energy specialists” that can survive in an environment where their food of choice is hard to come by.
But not all orangutans are the same. Carel van Schaik, who has spent many years studying orangutans, points out that there are two species or orangutan – one that lives in Sumatra and one that lives in Borneo. “The northern part of Sumatra is less subject to the dramatic lean periods seen in most of Borneo, so we might see some interesting differences between the two orangutan species in physiology,” he says. Unfortunately, the individuals at the Great Ape Trust are all hybrids so they have nothing further to say on the matter.
Van Schaik also thinks that energy-saving adaptations might be a common feature among Borneo’s mammals. There’s some evidence that these creatures have a tendency to become smaller. And while orangutans are still relatively large, those from the most unreliable regions seem to have smaller brains for their size. Van Schaik also wants to see if gibbons share the same traits, especially because they lead slow lives with little risk of predators and they share the orangutan’s problem of unpredictable food supplies.
Reference: PNAS http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1001031107
More on orangutans:
