On January 26th people from Perth, Australia gathered on a local beach to watch some amazing natural and man-made fireworks:

You can see more pictures at NASA’s Astronomy pic of the day.

Recently I spoke with a friend who had fasted with his girlfriend for approximately 5 days, consuming only water during that time and reducing his weight by approximately 12 pounds. I began to think about doing this myself: I am not at my ideal weight and fasting would be an interesting test of my will power (as I simply adore food).

In doing some research on the health benefits/drawbacks for fasting I came across an interesting National Geographic article called “The Pollution Within“, about the increasing number of chemicals we are being exposed to:

The classic example is lead. In 1971 the U.S. Surgeon General declared that lead levels of 40 micrograms per deciliter of blood were safe. It’s now known that any detectable lead can cause neurological damage in children, shaving off IQ points. From DDT to PCBs, the chemical industry has released compounds first and discovered damaging health effects later.

A recent example of how complicated (and delicate) the chemical ecosystem in our bodies really is comes from a woman in California who learned the hard way that extremes are not a good thing for the body. She died from water intoxication (where water dilutes enzymes enough to disrupt normal body operations) while trying to win a Wii by drinking the most H2O without peeing. While it’s sad that she died, at least she might become a candidate for this year’s Darwin award.

The Greenland Shark is a fascinating and, due to it’s habitat, rather mysterious creature. GEERG is at the forefront of documenting and understanding these incredible sharks which can grow up to 6 meters (20ft) long and live under the Arctic ice. The little we currently know about this species paints a tantalizing picture of the amazing natural world around us:

The only age analysis to date, by Norwegian researchers, pegs them growing about half a centimetre a year, which would put a seven metre adult at several hundred years old, easily beating the giant tortoise by decades, even centuries.1

While the pill has done wonders to help women (and couples) gain more power over impregnation there is still much that can be done to give men the same power. According to a recent New Scientist article that power may lie in a patch:

The drug, called Adjudin, works by disrupting the interaction that takes place in the testicles between immature sperm cells and the nurse cells responsible for nurturing sperm to maturity.

This new method targets the testicles and stops sperm from maturing (which is different from the typical hormonal approach). I can honestly say this is the first time I don’t mind my balls being the target of something.

Also, while I have never heard of these “nurse cells” that are apparently in my reproductive organs, I’m pretty sure I know exactly what mine look like.

The Tasmanian Tiger (or Thylacine) was a fascinating animal that went extinct during the early 1930’s. It was technically a carnivorous marsupial and looked like a strangely wonderful combination of a wolf, tiger, and kangaroo. Even at their peak population the tiger was rarely seen, and was most likely driven to extinction by dingos.

You can see a video of one of the last remaining tasmanian tigers alive in captivity. When I watch these clips I feel both sad and fascinated; it’s like seeing a home movie of a dinosaur or dodo bird.

The T.W.I.N.K.I.E.S. Project is a web site that is over a decade old (which is saying a lot, given the fickle nature of web sites). I recall originally seeing this site sometime during the late 90’s, most likely during my final high school years. It still makes me chuckle.

The site details experiments on the delectable Twinkie by two graduate undergraduate students who have a flair for experimentation. Tests include solubility, radiation, rapid oxidation, and the turing test (my personal favorite).

Scientists have found soft tissue in a fossilized Tyrannosaurus Rex thigh bone:

[Cutting the bone in half] revealed a startling surprise: soft tissue that had seemingly resisted fossilization still existed inside the bone. This tissue, including blood vessels, bone cells, and perhaps even blood cells, was so well preserved that it was still stretchy and flexible.

Mmmm - am I the only “baller” who thinks this looks like bar-b-que?

(edit: whoops, this isn’t really recent news - the original discovery story happened over 1 year ago)

Having breast implants doesn’t directly affect your chance of committing suicide, but it does indicate that the woman behind the bogus boobs has lower self esteem, lower self-confidence, and higher rates of depression. After studying nearly 25,000 women, scientists found that the incidence of suicide among those with implants was 73% higher than the general population.

This increase is partially reflective of the demographic that has the money and desire to alter their physical appearance:

…the research team [also] analyzed a group of 16,000 women who had undergone plastic surgery procedures other than breast augmentation. As in the breast implant group, the mortality rate was lower (32%) and the suicide rate higher (55%) than in the general population.

What’s the moral of the story? Who knows. But here’s my advice: if you’re a woman, make a real effort to appreciate who you are by not believing what the media tells you what you’re supposed to be. And if you’re a guy, keep telling your women the truth: you love them just the way they are!

Shannon and I try to drink milk instead of pop (or soda, or cola, or whatever you want to call fizzy sugar drinks); we typically go through about 2 gallons/week of skim milk. I do it more out of habit, as I drank a lot of milk growing up, but it also has health benefits. Here are some facts for you:

• The average American drinks 18 oz. of soda per day (about 1.5 cans). That adds up to about 216 calories/day for regular soda.
• Soda and other sugar-sweetened drinks have become the largest source of calories in the American diet, replacing white bread.
• 450 different varieties are sold in the U.S.
• Soft drink sales reached $68.1 billion in 2005.
• Sports drink sales increased 19.3% to $1.5 billion in 2005.

That 216 calories per day in soda consumption may not seem like a lot, but over a month it all adds up to nearly 7,000 additional calories which could result in a 2 pound weight gain. Over a year, that translates to 24 pounds. Ouch.

A further complication is that people drinking 250 calories do not feel as full as a person eating 250 calories of solid food. The type of sugar in most soda is man-made high fructose corn syrup. It fails to suppress the production of ghrelin which is a hormone made by the stomach to stimulate appetite. Drink a six-pack of cola which is 900 calories and your body feels no fuller than if you had just swallowed water (ref).

Sipping on cola is like bathing your mouth in corrosive acid. Soda can (and does) dissolve tooth enamel. A series of studies have tested and compared the pH of various sodas. Consider the following:

As soon as you take a sip it acidifies the saliva, which the body then works to neutralize. If you were to gulp your soda the saliva would return to normal in 20 minutes. But most people sip sodas for an hour or more and the mouth stays acidic the entire time. Multiply that by several sodas a day and you know why the dentists often say “Lay off the soda”.

In the 1950’s, children drank 3 cups of milk for every cup of soda. Today that ratio is reversed. Osteoporosis is a threat for 44 million Americans. Most experts say the real culprit is the displacement of milk in the diet, but some believe that the acidity of colas may be weakening bones by promoting the loss of calcium. One recommendation is to drink a glass of low-fat milk or have some type of low-fat dairy serving for each soda you drink.

A can of diet soda doesn’t contain 10 teaspoons of sugar, but many do contain caffeine (mildly addictive), acids that promote dental erosion, and artificial sweeteners, which have raised small safety issues. It’s still not certain whether or not diet sodas ward off weight gain. Researchers at Purdue University found that artificial sweeteners can interfere with the body’s natural ability to regulate calorie intake.

It’s not common to find a rapper who can incorporate traditionally geeky topics smoothly. We geeks already have MC Frontalot, and he is certainly entertaining, but could there be others who can walk the fine line between cool and uncool?

Well, a duo called Blackalicious has taken up the challenge of being geeky… and surprisingly, they’re also quite good! Inky Circus has more links, clips, and information if you want to check them out.