Article in International Business Times about the project I mentioned in my last post. Got this for supporting it (ok, ten bucks worth, but what the heck - I like the idea whether it happens or not, goodness knows...) If you do want to support it, there's only 10 days to go...
Awhile back I recall musing on how the biggest problem of recreating the Mammoth could be where to put it. This would probably be it, a project which has been going on in Siberia for many years has recently released a kickstarter (Pleistocene Park) to help fund the recreation of an environment more conducive to keeping the permafrost permafrozen than things are at the moment. And mammoths would be a key part of the faunal composition if they can get them - maintaining and increasing grasslands takes a lot of fiddling, and knocking over trees to keep the taiga at bay is a pretty elephantine behavior.
Of course there's still that little engineering problem: First clone your mammoth. :) And also of course, one mammoth won't help much - you need a species who will breed true, and the ability to create social groups - like us elephants learn a LOT of what they need to know from the other elephants.
Today's Hubble Release, a 30th Anniversary image of Supernova 1987A. Which you may recall took place in the Magellanic Cloud which is really about as close as i care to be to a supernova... :)
It started when I looked up DNA base pairs since for some reason one of the names had slipped my memory (for the record, Adenine - Thymine, Cytosine - Guanine [or Uracil with some RNA]) and found this Wikipedia article. Now look down the page to "Unnatural Base Pair" to see what got my attention... Yeppers, if you work at it you can find other bases that you can fit into the double helix. In fact if you'll look near the end of that section, someone actually inserted some into a strain of E Coli and lo and behold, they have remained in the organism's genome for a number of generations. Don't CODE for anything, but still impressive. An article in Popular Mechanics of all things: New Organisms With Synthetic DNA Could Lead to Entirely New Life Forms
Down in the further reading section, you find among other references, these two which cost $$$ to read, but all you really need to see are the abstracts which are free. Yeppers, if this works out you get nano power cables for nano constructions....
Darryl Hughes and Monique MacNaughton have an Indiegogo campaign up for producing the last two books in the Chevalier the Queen's Mousketeer series (yeppers, two more!) Especially if you aren't familiar with this series of children's stories, go look at the site which has a lot of examples, reviews and whatnot. This is the same series the on-line version of which appeared in the Recommended List for years.
Apparently Marcus has asked this to be shared around, so I suspect that includes posting it in here:
The Battle Hymn of the Bowling Green Massacre Marcus Bales•Sunday, 5 February 2017
No eyes have seen a massacre occur at Bowling Green As non-existent soldiers met with students never seen Where Kellyanne's imagination lit her silver screen Her lies go marching on.
Dilatory allegory Predatory oratory Don't believe her lying story Her lies go marching on.
Her fictional protesters faced her fancied fascist troops Her tragic death-toll changed into a legendary 'Oops' As all they did was wave their well-spelled signs in peaceful groups Her lies go marching on.
Dilatory allegory Predatory oratory Don't believe her lying story Her lies go marching on.
She said it went uncovered by reporters of the news That stations pulled their on-air talent with their camera-crews But worse, she's acting pouty that there's no deaths she can use. Her lies go marching on.
Dilatory allegory Predatory oratory Don't believe her lying story Her lies go marching on.
She has offered up her bullshit as if lying were a sport; Each time she moves her lips she tells a tale that lacks support. Is there no fact she won't traduce, no truth she won't distort? Her lies go marching on.
Dilatory allegory Predatory oratory Don't believe her lying story Her lies go marching on.
In the mists of ghostly silence such a massacre occurred That its trumped-up date is celebrated by no deed nor word -- And to find that she’s not fired for this kind of shit's absurd. Her lies go marching on.
This strange insect found preserved in amber represents a new species, genus, family and order of insects. Credit: George Poinar, courtesy of Oregon State University
Researchers at Oregon State University have discovered a 100-million-year-old insect preserved in amber with a triangular head, almost-alien and "E.T.-like" appearance and features so unusual that it has been placed in its own scientific "order" - an incredibly rare event.
There are about 1 million described species of insects, and millions more still to be discovered, but every species of insect on Earth has been placed in only 31 existing orders. Now there's one more.
The findings have been published in the journal Cretaceous Research and describe this small, wingless female insect that probably lived in fissures in the bark of trees, looking for mites, worms or fungi to feed on while dinosaurs lumbered nearby. It was tiny, but scary looking.
Spotted this on NPR. Apparently there is a yearly student painting competition, the winners of which get hung in the Capitol in DC for about a year until the next set of winners. One such, "Untitled#1" by David Pulphus went up last June, and apparently a group of Republicans have decided it was "offensive" and have been alternating taking it down with members of the Congressional Black Congress putting it back up. I can see what "offended" them, I also rather like the painting myself; nice use of symbolism. Follow the link for the story and a look at the painting. Great way to make sure everybody sees it, guys!
Went and saw "Sing" today - sorta Zootopia goes to the Theatre. Plot's familiar enough (Theater manager and general impressario fallen on hard times gambles on a singing contest to save the theater.) but as always the proof is in the details and particularly in the characters. Not to mention some really great music throughout from a variety of sources, as you'd probably expect. Oh - and squid. I LOVE the squid. All in all a great deal of fun and I recommend it.
hopeful
curious