Email 17 Great Historical Moments Ruined by Modern Technology

From Cracked:

Back in the days before the internet, if a man wanted to learn something, he had to open a newspaper. If he needed to kill Germans, he did it with his bare hands. And if he wanted some milk ... well, he had it delivered right to his door.

Yes, everything other than milk acquisition was much more difficult without modern technology. But does that make it worse? We asked you to show us how some famous historic moments would have been ruined if modern technology had existed at the time. The winner is below, but first the runners up ...

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Hat Tip Geek Press.

Scientists Trace Laughter Back 16million Years... By Tickling Apes

Amusing research: By analysing the reactions produced by gently tickling ape feet, palms, necks and armpits, Dr Davila Ross has concluded that laughter can be traced back 16million years

From The Daily Mail:

As science experiments go, it was real hoot.

Researchers mapping the evolution of laughter gently tickled the feet, palms, necks and armpits of baby humans and apes.

By analysing the sounds the animals made - giggles, hoots, grunts and pants - they concluded that laughter can be traced back some 16million years, and that it evolved along the same pathway as our evolution.

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Ancient Creatures Survived Arctic Winters

From Live Science:

Flowering plants and hippo-like creatures once thrived in the Arctic, where the tundra and polar bears now prevail.

New research, detailed in the June issue of the journal Geology, is shedding light on the lives of prehistoric mammals on Canada's Ellesmere Island 53 million years ago, including how they survived the six months of darkness during the Arctic winter.

Today, Ellesmere Island, located in the high Arctic (about 80 degrees north latitude), is a polar desert that features permafrost, ice sheets, sparse vegetation and a few mammals. Temperatures there range from minus 37 degrees Fahrenheit (-38 Celsius) in winter to plus 48 degrees F (9 Celsius) in summer. It is one of the coldest and driest places on Earth.

But 53 million years ago, the Arctic had a completely different look.

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Meet The Real 40-Year-Old Virgins

From New Scientist:

Contrary to Hollywood notions, the 40-year-old virgin is not an awkward yet funny and endearing electronics salesman played by Steve Carell.

He is a church-going teetotaller who has neither been to jail nor served in the military, according to a new survey of more than 7000 people. He also represents an estimated 1.1 million American men and 800,000 women aged 25 to 45 who have never had sex.

The study, led by urologist Michael Eisenberg of the University of California, San Francisco, will appear in an upcoming issue of the Journal of Sexual Medicine.

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High Population Density Triggers Cultural Explosions

New research suggests that increasing population density, rather than boosts in human brain power, appears to have catalyzed the emergence of modern human behavior. (Credit: iStockphoto)

From Science Daily:

ScienceDaily (June 5, 2009) — Increasing population density, rather than boosts in human brain power, appears to have catalysed the emergence of modern human behaviour, according to a new study by UCL (University College London) scientists published in the journal Science.

High population density leads to greater exchange of ideas and skills and prevents the loss of new innovations. It is this skill maintenance, combined with a greater probability of useful innovations, that led to modern human behaviour appearing at different times in different parts of the world.

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PICTURES: New Cloud Type Discovered?

From National Geographic:

An "asperatus" cloud rolls over New Zealand's South Island in an undated picture.

This apparently new class of clouds is still a mystery. But experts suspect asperatus clouds' choppy undersides may be due to strong winds disturbing previously stable layers of warm and cold air.

Asperatus clouds may spur the first new classification in the World Meteorological Organization's International Cloud Atlas since the 1950s, Gavin Pretor-Pinney said.

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How Antarctica Got Its Ice

The large glaciated valley of Nant Francon, Snowdonia. This valley is similar in relative dimensions (though smaller in size) to the main glaciated valley beneath the ice in central Antarctica. Credit: Martin Siegert

From Live Science:

Antarctica is a massive block of ice today, but it used to more simply be a range of glacier-topped mountains like those found in Alaska and the Alps.

The strange continent's thick ice sheets formed tens of millions of years ago against an Alpine-style backbone of mountains during a period of significant climate change, a new study finds.

The Antarctic continent now is covered almost entirely by ice that averages about a mile (1.6 kilometers) thick.

Scientists have known for some time that the Antarctic Ice Sheet formed around 14 million years ago, "but we didn't know how it formed," said study team member Martin Siegert of the University of Edinburgh in Scotland.

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Diving Robots Could Recover Air France 447's Black Box

From Popular Mechanics:

As details of the telemetry sent by Air France 447 in its final minutes become known, deep-sea technology experts are saying that the recovery of the aircraft's cockpit voice recorder and digital flight data recorder—the black boxes—will be difficult, but not impossible, with the help of deep-sea-diving robots.

After officials pinpointed the location of Air France's Airbus A330 crash site, they turned to the difficult task of recovering the black boxes, which hold the official recordings of events that happened before the plane went down. Black boxes, which are actually painted orange, can give investigators the missing bits and pieces of data needed to determine an accident's probable cause. To help officials find the boxes, embedded technology sends sonarlike signals, which can be detected for up to 30 days provided listening equipment can get within approximately 1 mile of the box, according to a spokesman for the National Transportation Safety Board. In the case of Flight 447, the crash area in the Atlantic Ocean is too deep for divers to reach.

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Do Dinosaurs Still Exist?

Conan Doyle's "Lost World," near Angel Falls in the jungles of Venezuela, in a 2007 photo. It was his visit to this area that inspired him to write about the idea that dinosaurs may still exist in places like this. Credit: Benjamin Radford

From Live Science:

The idea of still-living dinosaurs has captured the public imagination for well over a century.

Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes, published a 1912 novel called "The Lost World," set in the remote Venezuelan jungle where dinosaurs still survive in modern times. Films such as "Jurassic Park" and "Land of the Lost," which opens Friday, were inspired by Conan Doyle's vision — in fact the sequel to "Jurassic Park" was titled "The Lost World."

The animated film "Up" (currently No. 1 at the box office) also takes place in this lost world, the plot involving the discovery of an unknown, multicolored dinosaur.

For most of us, fiction is good enough. Yet some believe that giant dinosaurs still exist today, just beyond the reach of scientific proof.

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Lost In Space: The Science Of Battlestar Galactica

From New Scientist:

Sci-fi TV show Battlestar Galactica has been much praised for its gritty realism – despite being the story of space-borne refugees fleeing genocidal robots. Its treatment of subjects like suicide bombing and torture have won it plaudits from all corners; its cast and creators were even invited to address the UN earlier this year.

But does the series "do" science as convincingly as it does politics? We spoke to Kevin Fong, lecturer in space medicine at University College London and a keen advocate of manned space travel, about the series' depiction of space travel and the challenges facing astronauts on long space journeys.

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NASA Goddard Study Suggests Solar Variation Plays A Role In Our Current Climate

From Watts Up With That:

NASA Study Acknowledges Solar Cycle, Not Man, Responsible for Past Warming

Report indicates solar cycle has been impacting Earth since the Industrial Revolution
From the Daily Tech, Michael Andrews. (h/t to Joe D’Aleo)

Some researchers believe that the solar cycle influences global climate changes. They attribute recent warming trends to cyclic variation. Skeptics, though, argue that there’s little hard evidence of a solar hand in recent climate changes.

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Mountains Hidden Under Antarctic Ice Revealed By Radar Map

From Times Online:

Antarctic mountains hidden beneath thousands of metres of ice have been mapped in detail for the first time.

One of Antarctica’s highest mountain ranges, located in the centre of the continent, shows remarkable similarities to the Alps, with steep cliffs, valley steps and flat tributary valleys.

The study, published today in the journal Nature, mapped the Gamburtsev mountains by bouncing radar signals off their hidden surface and observing how long they took to return. The highest peak was found to be 2,434m (7,985ft) above sea level, about twice the height of Ben Nevis.

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Trading Energy For Safety, Bees Extend Legs To Stay Stable In Wind

Some bees brace themselves against wind and turbulence by extending their sturdy hind legs while flying. (Credit: iStockphoto/Roel Dillen)

From Science Daily:

ScienceDaily (June 3, 2009) — New research shows some bees brace themselves against wind and turbulence by extending their sturdy hind legs while flying. But this approach comes at a steep cost, increasing aerodynamic drag and the power required for flight by roughly 30 percent, and cutting into the bees' flight performance.

The findings are detailed in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

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Sub Explores Ocean's Deepest Trench

Map of Mariana Trench. Credit: NOAA

From Live Science:

A robotic vehicle named Nereus has made one of the deepest ocean dives ever — 6.8 miles (10,902 meters), a team of scientists and engineers reported yesterday. At this depth, Nereus was able to explore the Challenger Deep — the ocean's lowest point, located in the Mariana Trench in the western Pacific.

Nereus took the plunge Sunday. It was the first exploration of the Mariana Trench since 1998.

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Four Years Of Google Earth, And What Has It Found?

Atlantis?: Courtesy Google

From Popular Science:

The virtual mapping tool, which turns four years old this month, has led to some amazing discoveries.

Google Earth in its current form went live in June 2005. In addition to allowing users to fly to their childhood homes, zoom in on potential vacation spots, and explore under the sea and atop the world's highest peaks, the virtual mapping software has proven instrumental in a number of scientific discoveries -- several in 2009 alone. Here's a look back at some of the highlights.

Any guesses on future Google Earth discoveries? Will Google Earth be an ever-more-important scientific tool in the future? Post in the comments.

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Space 'Causes Disabling Headaches In Astronauts'

Astronaut: Twelve of the 17 astronauts reported 21 headaches during the test Photo: AP

From The Telegraph:

Astronauts who have no history of bad headaches can be prone to disabling attacks while in space, neurologists say.

Contrary to prevailing theories, headaches in space are not caused by motion sickness, they said.

Instead, the problem could lie in an increase in blood flow to the head, causing painful pressure on the brain.

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How To Unleash Your Brain's Inner Genius

Autistic musician Derek Paravicini performs his first professional concert at St Georges Hall, Bristol, UK (Image: South West News Service / Rex Features)

From New Scientist:

CLAD in a dark suit and sunglasses, Derek Paravicini makes a beeline for the sound of my voice and links his arm into mine. "Hello, Celeste. Where have you come from today?" I reply and his response is immediate: "From Holborn?" He repeats the word several times, savouring each syllable. "Hol-born, Hol-born, Hooool-bbooorn. Where's Hoollll-booorn?" As our conversation continues, the substance of much of what I say doesn't seem to sink in, but the sounds themselves certainly do, with Paravicini lingering over and repeating particularly delightful syllables. "Meewww-zick. The pi-aan-o."

Such touching and immediate friendliness is not quite what I expected from my first meeting with the 29-year-old, blind musical savant, but his obsession with reproducing sounds certainly makes sense, given his talent. Paravicini can play just about any piece of music you request, entirely from memory, with formidable technical ability, despite having severe learning difficulties that mean he needs constant support in everyday life. And as I find out an hour later, he constantly improvises the pieces he has learned by ear, rather than simply copying as you might expect.

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NASA Clears Space Shuttle For June 13 Launch

Space shuttle Endeavour crew, from left, commander Mark Polansky, pilot Douglas Hurley, Canadian Space Agency astronaut Julie Payette, mission specialist Thomas Marshburn, flight engineer Timothy Kopra, mission specialist David Wolf, and mission specialist Christopher Cassidy answer questions during a news conference on launch pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Wednesday, June 3, 2009. Endeavour and its seven member crew are scheduled for a June 13 launch. (AP Photo/John Raoux)

From AP:

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — NASA has cleared space shuttle Endeavour for a June 13 launch to the international space station.

Top managers settled on the date Wednesday following a daylong flight review that coincided with a practice countdown by the seven astronauts assigned to the mission.

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More News On The Next Space Shuttle Launch

Shuttle Endeavour cleared for launch next week -- Spaceflight Now
NASA sets June 13 launch date for Endeavour -- TG Daily
NASA Targets June 13 Launch for Shuttle Endeavour -- Space.com
NASA clears space shuttle for June 13 launch -- Reuters
Endeavour moves to another launch pad -- MSNBC
NASA approves June 13 shuttle launch date -- AFP

Air France Flight 447: A Detailed Meteorological Analysis

From Watts Up With That?

NOTE: This writeup is from an acquaintance of mine who wrote some powerful meteorological software, Digital Atmosphere, that I use in my office. He used that software (and others) to analyze the Air France 447 crash from the meteorological perspective. h/t to Mike Moran – Anthony

by Tim Vasquez

Air France flight 447 (AF447), an Airbus A330 widebody jet, was reported missing in the equatorial Atlantic Ocean in the early morning hours of June 1, 2009. The plane was enroute from Rio de Janeiro (SBGL) to Paris (LFPG). Speculation suggested that the plane may have flown into a thunderstorm. The objective of this study was to isolate the aircraft’s location against high-resolution satellite images from GOES-10 to identify any association with thunderstorm activity. Breakup of a plane at higher altitudes in a thunderstorm is not unprecedented; Northwest Flight 705 in 1963 and more recently Pulkovo Aviation Flight 612 in 2006 are clear examples.

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Who Controls The Internet?

From The Weekly Standard:

The United States, for now, and a good thing, too.

In order to please our European allies and our Third World critics, the Obama administration may be tempted to surrender one particular manifestation of American "dominance": central management of key aspects of the Internet by the U.S. Department of Commerce. Other countries are pushing for more control. Early this year, British cabinet member Andy Burnham told the Daily Telegraph that he was "planning to negotiate with Barack Obama's incoming American administration to draw up new international rules for English language websites." It would be a mistake for the administration to go along. America's special role in managing the Internet is good for America and good for the world.

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