Some people's blood contains cells from a sibling. Others are two individuals rolled into one. Yet more carry a distinct mutation in only parts of their bodies

These are human genetic oddities known as Chimaeras and Mosiacs.

Chimaeras are humans who are composed of two genetically distinct types of cells, caused by two different eggs (ie twins) fusing into one embryo. So a person can have some body parts which are male, and some which are female!

Mosaics have patches of tissue that differ genetically from the rest of their body, thanks to a mutation or chromosomal anomaly that arose early in embryological development.

The article looks at how many more of these people exist without being detected, and the problems of providing medication for someone who is really two different people.

And with the the use of IVF, comes more twins, and more chimaeras and mosiacs. More info...

The NEAR spacecraft came back to life, when there should have been no reason to do so, and now, when NASA have a wonderful chance to snap some close-ups of the Jovian moon Amalthea, they cite lack of funds.

Maybe they just don't want to share what they think they are going to see?

I was waiting for more detailed news, or pics, but none came. 15 metres high and "believed to be up to 2,700 years old".

Chinese pandas watch porn

Mice and men share about 97.5 per cent of their working DNA, just one per cent less than chimps and humans

Falling coconuts kill 150 people worldwide each year, 15 times the number of fatalities attributable to sharks

Yet more evidence that children of those affected by radiation can also suffer:

Scientists digging south of Denver say they have uncovered evidence of a lush and vibrant rainforest that emerged surprisingly soon after the asteroid collision that wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago.

Instead of a 10 million year recovery period, it is now thought that it only took 1.4 million years!

What is more interesting is the tree fossils with a 6 metre diameter, and that the rainforest that re-emerged did not contain the same species that were mostly wiped out.

Question: Why does the black hole in our galactic center only emit 20% of the expected x-ray intensity?

Answer 1: It is saving them up for one almighty & nasty outburst (me).

Answer 2:

This supernova from the special date of 10,000 years ago needs some more investigation!

"Imagine more than five times the volume of water in the Great Lakes being released in a single flood, and you'll have a sense of the scale of this event"

Pictures and information which very slightly validates the possibility of it happening here on Earth.

Asteroid 2002 MN, estimated at up to 120 metres (yards) long, hurtled by the Earth at a distance of 120,000 kilometers (75,000 miles), well within the orbit of the Moon and just a hair's breadth in galactic terms

This is the biggest in decades to come so close. Not big enough to wipe us all out, but a city would've been well within its capabilities.

A leading example of evolution given in biology textbooks has come unglued, evoking jeers and jubilation in the camp of creationists, who have been trying for years to expel Darwin from the classroom. The case is that of the peppered moth, which over the course of a few decades has changed its wing color from pale-peppered to black and back to peppered again in parallel with the rise and fall of industrial pollution.

People did not know that photos were actually of dead moths glued or pinned in place. And the moth actually doesn't like tree trunks!

A shower of matter from space millions of years ago could have led to drastic changes in the Earth's climate, followed by the extinction of life on a massive scale, which also killed off the dinosaurs... Incidentally, cosmic weather might also be a decisive factor in the speed of evolution. The cosmic rays from which we are protected by the solar wind are so full of energy that they can change the DNA of living beings.

This article looks at how "clouds of interstellar matter" can interfere with the solar wind, and allow more cosmic rays to hit earth, therefore causing more mutations!

"When a powerful event like a CME disturbs the solar atmosphere, Earth can feel the effects, even if the CME is not directed our way." - article at NASA

"Huge loops of very hot gas rising above the Sun`s surface vibrate with enormous energy at times of solar storms." - article from ESA at EurekAlert

This link goes to a machine translation of the page (originally in Spanish). It includes:

-Characteristic of the underwater structures -First hypothesis: Natural Origin -Second hypothesis: intelligent Work of beings -Third hypothesis: natural Structures utilized by intelligent beings -How to Test the validity of these hypothesis?

Page in Spanish

Thousands of miles beneath our feet, a giant nuclear reactor seems to be at work deep within Earth's core, and preliminary research suggests it may be the mysterious power source behind the planet's magnetic field and thermal energy, upon which all life on the planet depends for its survival...

A ball of uranium 5 miles in diameter could be the generator of Earth's magnetic field. It's hard to prove (!) but makes a lot of sense.

Because "a nuclear reactor can decrease power output -- and even shut itself down -- and come back to life again", it could explain why our magnetic poles flip regularly.

Astronomers have observed a brown dwarf orbiting a low-mass star - at a distance of just three times that which separates Earth and the Sun. Hard to see, brown dwarfs were once thought to all be drifting aimlessly around space (and therefore a threat to our planet). Now it appears that they are normally in orbit around another a star.

About 10,000 years ago, hunter-gatherers in what is now southern Mexico started hedging their edible bets by cultivating a baseball-size squash called Cucurbita pepo. That is at least 5,000 years before the first evidence of domesticated beans and corn -- the other two staple cultivars of Mesoamerican prehistory -- and roughly coincident with the dawn of agriculture in Mesopotamia where barley first was raised.

Source: Maricopa Edu

Scientists have uncovered the secret of mankind's soaring intellect - fish. Thanks to our predilection for cockles and mussels, shrimps and the odd bit of cod, our chimp-brained ancestors were transformed into a species so smart it now rules the Earth.

Great news for followers of the Aquatic Ape Theory

Source: Guardian

link me   

An army of monster Wimpzillas is hiding out in our Galaxy and Earth is under attack. Fantastical as these beasts sound, they could solve two mysteries that have been plaguing physicists for years: the source of the Universe's missing mass, and the origin of the most powerful cosmic rays hitting our planet.

According to the article they will soon have detectors that will tell us if this is where cosmic rays originate from.

Alcohol speeds cancer growth Beer is good for your sanity Clever rats drink more

Lots of volcanoes blowing their top would be expected during and after a poleshift.