In one of the most bizarre science stories today, The Sun reports that homing pigeons follow roads, even if it takes them miles out of their way. They strapped GPS devices on the pigeons to detect their routes. Sounds like a prank, and maybe it is, but the bottom of the story claims "(N.B. THIS STORY IS NOT A JOKE)". You decide.

Nasa has an interesting picture up today. A Hole Punch Cloud Over Alabama.

Yahoo! news has an interesting story today: Scientists Measure Pollution in Humans.

Joseph Anderson shows you how to measuring the speed of light with chocolate and a microwave oven. Interesting.

Wired has a great article on a new technology. Merging technology with cells.

Archaeologists believe they have found the tomb of Gilgamesh, in Iraq... I'm looking forward to hearing more as they dig it out.

The NY Times has a 2 page obituary on Dr. Atkins. Page 2 is quite interesting...

Mesopotamia is a nice site by The British Museum.

Do you know your elements? Because if you don't, you may want to learn this cool song.

SARS has now cost over 100 lives. The Department of Health has created a FAQ page for people who have questions about Atypical Pneumonia.

A few weeks ago I read a gruesome but fascinating article about science gone wrong. In an ethical violation of the worst kind, reknowned stuttering research pioneer, Wendell Johnson designed a cruel study. He used one of his students to do the dirty work on orphans. Today it is Yahoo's most emailed story. Some of the harmed orphans, elderly by now, are suing the University. Here is a good summary of the story. The student who carried out the experiments (now in her 80s) justified it by saying it was a small price to pay for science and the countless numbers the study helped. Perhaps she forgot that the study did not support the hypothesis of Wendell Johnson. Yet he went ahead to publish his thesis without mention of the study. Ostensibly the omission was not due to the cruelty of the study, which he seemed to be oblivious to. It was omitted because it did not support his theory. His thesis got worldwide acclaim and acceptance. Therefore not only was it cruel and detrimental to the orphans, but the results were ignored at a cost to future stutterers who received treatment on the basis of a flawed thesis. To my understanding, today experts in the field accept a modified version of Wendell's hypothesis...

The Washington Post has some good news: Scientists Find Mystery Illness Virus

A friend of mine is in the hospital with Fibromyalgia, given the wrong drugs for a long period of time. Almost killed her. If anyone has some good info on what helps and works for it, please comment. Thanks!

Ananova reports: Oldest set of human footprints found at volcano.

Excerpt:

Scientists have found the oldest set of human footprints to be discovered, preserved on an Italian volcano.
They were left by three small human-like creatures who scrambled down the side of the mountain between 325,000 and 385,000 years ago.

The Philodemus Project is a great site detailing the finds from Pompeii and Herculaneum, buried by an eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D.

Don Petit, NASA scientist, discovers Elastic Water on the ISS

ABCNEWS.com : Cloned Baby Is Alive in Israel

Recently there was a big news story that made the news around the world talking about cloning that had already been done. I was out of the country and not familiar enough with the language to get everything but there was some guy dressed like an alien conducting the news conference. I'm not sure because of the language barrier but it looked like Journalism at its worst.

But now this news article from ABC News looks like a different group. If there isn't already a cloned baby, it's only a matter of time. What does this all mean to us practically speaking? I don't know.

The WJZ.com reports: What is Brain Freeze?

I've always wondered...well here is an excerpt:

If you've ever gobbled down a bowl of ice cream, you probably know what an "ice cream headache" feels like. But, what is the science behind the "brain freeze"?

One 13-year-old Canadian was curious enough about "ice cream headaches" that she conducted her own study on it, and she got the results published in a major international medical journal.

Maya Kaczorowski visited The Early Show to discuss her study published in the British Medical Journal called, "Ice cream Evoked Headaches (ICE-H) Study: Randomized Trial of Accelerated Versus Cautious Ice Cream Eating Regimen."

Neuroprosthesis News reports on this interesting story: DNA prefers Diamond.

Science Toys looks like a really cool site...offering science toys you can make with your kids.

Dr. Walkden, of the University of Aberdeen has found a strange piece of rock, turns out to be ancient and a key discovery: Daily Record: SCOTS BOFFIN SOLVES SPACE ROCK RIDDLE

Dr Walkden found it in the Bristol countryside several years ago.

No-one was able to identify the strange lump of rock made up of tiny bright green spheres and he kept it in a drawer at work.

However, as more evidence of the dinosaur-killing impact was discovered, Dr Walkden realised his rock was identical.

He said: "I had collected a piece of this strange rock with tiny, bright green spheres. No-one knew what it was so I kept it in a drawer and looked at if every so often.

"Then, as recent details of the dinosaur-killing Mexico impact were being publicised, it became clear the sphere structures were identical - what we had was evidence of a major asteroid impact.

First measurements of a complete antihydrogen atom

It seems like the stuff of science fiction, but NSF-sponsored researchers working at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, have probed the properties of whole atoms of antimatter, the "mirror image" of matter, for the first time. Their results provide the first look into the inside of an antimatter atom and are a big step on the way to testing standard theories of how the universe operates.

American Researchers have reported that the glaciers on Mount Kilimanjaro are melting!

Yahoo! News - Scientists Find Earliest Roman London Plaque

This is interesting:

"Archaeologists excavating an ancient site in London said on Friday they had unearthed the oldest known plaque inscribed with the city's Roman name. "

New Planet-Shaped Body Found in Our Solar System
and National Geographic has a nice picture of it.