26 July, 2012 – This Week in Science

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A Moment Of Remembrance, Spaciness. Invertebrate Noise Making, Percolating Life, Sloth Sex, Stale Pop, Mummy Colds, Greenland Melts, Writing Eyes, Clever Gorillas, Being Human, And Much More…

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Ride on Sally…
The first female astronaut passed away this week.

Space news –
Moon ideas – Where did the moon come from?
Dark matter keeps hiding – Dark matter isn’t where we expect it to be. Uh oh.
Move over LHC – Particle detector in space!!!

Bats can tell when flies are getting conjugal!
Flies emit a burst of broadband when mating. They are also distracted and find themselves active at night (when they are usually inactive). Bats have fine-tuned their ears to be able to hear fly copulation, in order to grab an easy-to-catch meal that’s two-for-one.

Percolating life

Blair’s Animal Corner
Sloth sex is slow, but sneaky!
Scientists recently conducted a study in which male and female sloths were located, tagged, and genetically tested, and the results surprised them. Through paternity testing and mapping the researchers discovered that these animals were not monogamous, but were not entirely promiscuous, either.

Pop Music is Stale
Spanish researchers have published a study stating that pop music has gotten louder and sounds fairly uniform.

Get a free audiobook at Audible.com!

Mummy had a cold

It’s a “Zombee” apocalypse!!!
San Francisco State researchers recently discovered “zombie-like” bees who were infected with a parasite. ZomBeeWatch.org asks citizen scientists to collect bees that appear to have perished near outside lights, and watch for larva exiting out of the head region. Uploaded photos and location information will help scientists to map out this epidemic and better understand what is happening to our precious bees! The site is set to launch in August.

This Week in the End of the World
Greenland’s Thaw

Learn how to write… with your eyeballs
Jean Lorenceau of Université de Pierre et Marie Curie-Paris has discovered that a person can train themselves to control fine smooth eye movements good enough that one could draw or write just with their eyes. This is a remarkable discovery especially for those who have lost the use of their arms and legs, or the ability to speak.

Clever Gorillas – Surprise, surprise!
Gorillas have been videotaped systematically dismantling snares set by poachers. They were seen going right up to the snare, and dismantling it right away, indicating they knew what they were doing from the start. What is so astonishing is that this observation occurred shortly after an approximately two-year-old gorilla was trapped in one such snare and died. When will poachers learn? Don’t mess with gorillas!

The importance of a little mistake

The Human Threat

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