this explains all the sci-fi movie background mood music. coulda been ripped right off the rings…

The Sound of a Distant Rumble: Researchers Track Underwater Noise Generated by December 26 Earthquake

i think it needs more cowbell.

Pathological Gambling Caused by Drugs Used to Treat Parkinson Disease [archives of neurology, 2005.07.11

All 11 patients with PD [Parkinson's Disease] and pathological gambling were taking therapeutic doses of a dopamine agonist; 3 of these patients were not treated with levodopa. In 7 patients, pathological gambling developed within 3 months of starting to take or escalating the dose of the agonist; in the other 4 with a longer latency, gambling resolved after the agonist use was discontinued. Pramipexole dihydrochloride was the agonist in 9 of 11 cases in our series and 10 of 17 in the literature (68% in total).

then again, pramipexole dihydrochloride is a white powder, so maybe it’s not worth the effort to aerosolize… nah. we’re talking about gambling. it’s worth the chance…

Volcanoes spew up ice, not lava [the austrailia, via news.com.au, 2005.07.11]

A SMALL, bitterly cold moon orbiting Saturn may this week be identified as the most likely place in the solar system for liquid water to exist.

someone send those poor people some rain.

“Although the machines we have created are still simple compared with biological self-reproduction, they demonstrate that mechanical self-reproduction is possible and not unique to biology,” Hod Lipson said in a report in the science journal Nature on Wednesday.

update: with video [wmv].

really amazing.

in 10 years, expect the “make a fusion reactor from your cell phone” merit badge for the scouts…

just when we thought we knew something, maybe not so much. from the press-release version…

Light may arise from relativity violations [indiana university]

The new results show that this description of light is a general feature of relativity violations and holds both in empty space and in the presence of gravity. “In this picture, light has a strange beauty, and its origin is tied into minuscule violations of Einstein’s relativity in a profound and general way,” Kostelecky said.

a preprint is available at arxiv.org.

expect lots of fun experiments to follow.

ramanujan would be proud, unless, of course, he knew that already.

Scientists Develop Clean Diesel System [ap via abc news, october 29, 2004]

The system converts diesel fuel into a 30 percent hydrogen mixture. By using the diesel to run a fuel cell instead of burning it, the system produces twice the energy output, without sulfur or nitrous oxide pollution.

you can see a fairly detailed presentation [pdf] from the lab.

it’s still running diesel, but if you can get twice the bang per gallon, it’s a step in the right direction.

the lab is also doing feature on other hydrogen production work, including a video clip for your entertainment (and that one looks like it takes a nuclear reactor).

Noah’s Ark plan from top Moon man [bbc news, september 8, 2004]

The European Space Agency’s chief scientist has said that there should be a Noah’s Ark on the Moon, in case the Earth was destroyed by an asteroid or nuclear holocaust.

Speaking exclusively to BBC News at the British Association Science Festival, Dr Bernard Foing said that the ark should be a repository for the DNA of every single species of plant and animal.

there are two hurdles i see with this: first, we don’t even know all the plants and animals on the planet (but we’re working on it, sorta), and second, they’re going to have to fight over a location. other than that, sure. why not backup the dna?