Making Science More Better For You on 02/06/09

Headline of the day

Couple loves cloned best friend (CNN)
That's only because he always picks up the check.



Bones of first theater critic unearthed
Origin Of Claws Seen In Fossil 390 Million Years Old

ScienceDaily (Feb. 6, 2009) — A missing link in the evolution of the front claw of living scorpions and horseshoe crabs was identified with the discovery of a 390 million-year-old fossil by researchers at Yale and the University of Bonn, Germany.

The specimen, named Schinderhannes bartelsi, was found fossilized in slate from a quarry near Bundenbach in Germany, a site that yields spectacularly durable pyrite-preserved fossils — findings collectively known as the Hunsrück Slate. The Hunsrück Slate has previously produced some of the most valuable clues to understanding the evolution of arthropods – including early shrimp-like forms, a scorpion and sea spiders as well as the ancient arthropods trilobites.

We bet the football team will be called "the fighting robots."
Singularity University Founded by NASA, Google

Google and NASA have partnered to create a school called
Singularity University Founded by NASA, Google
Singularity University. The school, to be headed by Ray Kurzweil, will prepare scientists and others to deal with the effects of technological change. Kurzweil will serve as Chancellor.

Ray Kurzweil is the author of The Singularity is Near, a somewhat controversial book that suggests, among other things, that by the middle of this century computers will outstrip humans and humans will be able to use genetics and nanotechnology to directly affect its own evolution, achieving a kind of physical immortality. The establishment of the Singularity University by a government agency, NASA, and a private company, Google, suggests a growing acceptance of Ray Kurzweil's ideas.

We also think the school cheer will be "John Connor Must Die."