In the News:
Dinos:
Cold Blood for Long Necks? - For years scientists have thought sauropod
dinosaurs used their long necks to browse from the tops of trees, but
work by Dr. Roger Seymour from Adelaide University in Australia calls
that into question. Seymour has done a study of the size of hearts needed
to pump blood up the necks of animals. He estimates that a Barosaurus
would need a heart that weighted more than 2000 kg to push blood up its
vertical neck if the animal was warm-blooded. This seems extremely unlikely.
If the sauropods were cold-blooded though, the lower metabolic rate of
the animal would mean it could have used a slightly smaller heart. If
that was the case the dinosaur would still need a considerably large and
inefficient heart, but a vertical neck might be possible. It is also possible
that the sauropods kept their necks in a horizontal position.
1000's
of Near-Earth Asteroids - Scientists working on the Lincoln Near-Earth
Asteroid Research program (LINEAR) have raised estimates saying that there
are more than 1,100 asteroids greater than six-tenths of a mile in diameter
in orbits close to Earth. An earlier estimate this year from a Jet Propulsion
Laboratory study only projected 700. Scientists are concerned about these
space rocks since a collision with Earth of a large asteroid might kill
millions of people or even wipe life from the face of the Earth. An impact
in 1908 in Siberia, of what may have been
a relatively small asteroid, leveled over a 1,000 square miles of forest.
Although the danger of an impact of a large asteroid is small, scientists
would like to map the orbit of all near-Earth asteroids in the next ten
to twenty years.
Send
in the Clones, Don't Bother They're Here - Science is getting closer
to being able to clone endangered or even extinct animals. In Iowa, a
cow is carrying the cloned fetus of an endangered Asian gaur. Scientists
created the gaur by collecting the DNA from a dead animal and inserting
it into a cow's egg. The new gaur should be born this month. In Spain
work is already underway to clone the extinct bucardo mountain goat. While
these attempts may be successful, scientists are still a long way from
re-creating dinosaurs, if that is possible
at all, like in the movie Jurassic Park.
Laboratory
Black Hole - Black holes are considered one of nature's most powerful
and dangerous phenomena and Ulf Leonardt, a professor at St. Andrews University,
intends to create one in his laboratory. Normally this would mean that
the University and surrounding town would be sucked into the hole's enormous
gravitational field and crushed. This black hole, though, will be "optical"
sucking in only light. Leonardt intends to do this by using special material
to slow down the light from its normal speed of 186,000 miles-a-second
to 38 mph, a speed at which it can be pulled into the hole he plans to
create.
Mammoth
Germs - What happened to the Mammoths? For years scientists have been
pondering why these giant creatures went extinct. Some theories include
over hunting by early humans or climate changes. Ross MacPhee, a curator
at the American Museum of Natural History thinks it may be something else
entirely: germs. His theory is that a new disease, perhaps brought by
migrating humans, killed off the mammoths along with other species that
died at the same time. Other scientists think this idea unlikely, but
MacPhee has spent the summer in Siberia digging up mammoth bones so he
can examine the marrow they contain for signs of the supposed germs.
Listening
at Loch Ness - Jan Sundberg, a Swedish cryptozoologist, last week
started the most recent hunt for the Loch Ness monster. Sundberg will
not search for the creature with a camera to get photographs - Sundberg
admits "they are too easy to fake" - but with an underwater
microphone originally designed to detect Soviet nuclear submarines. His
expedition will record sounds in the Loch and compare them to sounds from
known animals like eels, fish and seals to see if they have found something
new. Sundberg says the last time they used the mic at the lake they heard
"a large swooshing sound" that might have been an animal with
big flippers moving through the water.
Court
Sinks Treasure Hunters - Hunting for treasure wrecks may become a
lot less lucrative if a U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision is not
overturned by the Supreme Court. Ben Benson, owner of Sea Hunt Inc., is
in a dispute with Spain over the ownership of two Spanish warships that
sank off the coast of Virginia 200 years ago. He arranged with the State
of Virginia to recover the treasure, but the court has said the rights
to salvage the ships were not Virginia's to give, unless Spain had expressly
abandoned the vessels. This, according to Benson, is a departure from
300 years of traditional admiralty law in which if counties did not look
for sunken ships they owned within a given amount of time they lost the
rights to them. If the ruling stands it could put billions of dollars
of unrecovered treasure off limits to treasure hunters.
In History:
Mysterious
Airship - On the evening of November 17th, 1896 hundreds of residents
of Sacramento, California looked up to see what appeared to be a searchlight
mounted on a airship moving across the sky. This was extremely unusual
since neither the dirigible or the airplane had been invented yet. A wave
of reports of mysterious airships moved across the country from West to
East over the next few months, then stopped in Chicago. No convincing
explanation for these sightings have ever been found.
Read more about the mysterious airship of 1896 here!
In the Sky:
Venus
- November is a good month to take a look at the planet Venus. Go
out and look toward the southwest about an hour after sunset. It will
be low in the sky and very bright. Because it isn't always visible, people
are often startled by the sight of it and the planet has been the source
of many erroneous UFO reports.
Leonids
Shower - On Saturday November 18 the Leonids meteor shower will be
visible. Although the phenomenon takes its name from the constellation
Leo where the shooting stars seem to radiate from, they can appear in
any part of the sky.
Observed:
Bigfoot's
Tush? - In a mud wallow near Mount Adams in southern Washington an
impression of a giant forearm, buttock, thigh and heel have been found.
Each was 50 percent larger than that of an average 6-foot man. Was the
maker a Sasquatch? Jeffery Meldrum, an anthropologist at Idaho State thinks
it might be, saying the impression was "significant and compelling
evidence" of the creature's existence.
Museum
to Pay Ransom - The Bletchly Park Museum in Britain, scene of one
of the most secret and successful codebeaking efforts during WWII, has
agreed to pay $36,000 in ransom for a rare German Enigma coding
machine. The machine, one of only three of that particular model left,
was stolen in April from the museum. A ransom note was received by the
museum saying that if the money was not paid the machine, worth about
$145,000, would be destroyed.
Russian
Space Ship for Sale - Looking for the souvenir to set off your den?
How about a slightly used Soyuz TM-26 space capsule? For a mere $2.2 million
you can own this piece of space history. The three-person capsule was
launched into orbit in August of 1997 by Russia and spent 198 days in
space. The capsule is now on sale at the thespacestore.com.
On the Tube:
Currently we are only able to give accurate times and dates for these programs in the United States. Check local listings in other locations.
Hitler's
Lost Sub - A German U-boat from WWII lay on the bottom of the ocean
undetected just off the coast of New Jersey for almost fifty years. Follow
diver John Chatterton in this Nova episode as he explores the missing
sub. A quest that takes six years and costs three lives. Airs 9PM on Nov.
14 on PBS.
Runaway
Universe - Explore the riddle surrounding the repulsive force that
some scientists believe counteracts gravity. Nova on PBS. Airs
Nov. 21 at 9PM.
The
Mummies Ultimate Guide- Discover the secret of an ancient world: How
mummies were made and why they survive intact after thousands of years.
On the Discovery Channel Nov. 4 at 3PM, Nov. 8 at 9PM and 1AM,
Nov. 11 at 2PM ET/PT.
Egypt
Uncovered: Mummies into the After Life - Perhaps the "curse"
found on ancient Egyptian mummies will a blessing for modern man. By examining
the organs of mummies researchers may be able to find ways to stop current
disease's. On the Discovery Channel Nov. 8 at10PM and 2AM, Nov. 11 at
1PM.
Dinosaur
Hunters of the Old West - While miners headed into the old west for
gold, scientists went to look for dinosaur bones. Hear the story of Cope
and Marsh, two rival paleontologists that fought the "Bone
wars." Nov. 23 at 7AM ET/PT on the History Channel. Part
of the Real West series.
The
Ultimate Ten Unexplained Mysteries - This TLC special looks at aliens
from outer space, spontaneous human combustion, and wandering spirits
among other things. Nov. 4 at 6PM ET/PT.
Incredible
But True? - Check out these episodes on the History Channel this month:
The Loch Ness Monster Nov. 3 at 11PM, Nov.4 at 3AM and Nov. 5 at
5AM; The Abominable Snowman Nov.17 at 11PM, Nov.18 at 3AM, Nov.
19 at 5AM; Alien Hunters Nov. 10 at 11PM, Nov.11 at 3AM, Nov. 12
at 5AM, ET/PT.
Science
Mysteries Extraterrestrial Life - Are we alone in the Universe? This
Discovery Channel show takes a look at the mysteries surrounding supposed
cases of alien abductions. Nov. 2 at 10PM, and 2AM, Nov. 4 at 4PM, ET/PT.
LGM:
Science over the Edge Archives
Copyright Lee Krystek 2000. All Rights Reserved.