Good news for science. I wasn't aware that Bush stopped even listening to scientists but now a lot of things are making more sense.

Quoted: Want to know what presidential candidate Barack Obama will do to make the U.S. a great nation for science again? Among other changes, he promises to create a position of "chief technology officer" for the country, and to recreate a space advisory council that reports directly to the president.
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One of the best pieces of news I've heard about Obama is that he plans to recreate the post of science advisor to the president, a position that disappeared during the Bush Administration.

A little bit of fun for Friday again!

Quoted: Tasmania is being warned it is at threat from the spread of a hazardous algae called Rock Snot.

Now here's some science that everyone can get behind!

Quoted: International Business Machines Corp. is working with candy maker Mars Inc. and the U.S. government to study the genetic code of cocoa trees to safeguard the world's chocolate supply.
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Closely held Mars, the maker of M&M candies and Snickers bars, and the U.S. Agriculture Department will sequence the entire cocoa genome, deciphering the plant's biological map. IBM will analyze the results using Blue Gene, the world's second- fastest supercomputer, the company said today in a statement.

Sweet!

Quoted: VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - The Vatican's chief astronomer says there is no conflict between believing in God and in the possibility of extraterrestrial brothers perhaps more evolved than humans.

This sounds like crap. Determining genetic mutations from stone carvings and statues? Why don't we consider that there was some artistic license taken? Or should we next determine that the anubis carvings were real people that had the mexican wolf boy mutation? Crap.

Quoted: Akhenaten wasn't the most manly pharaoh, even though he fathered at least a half-dozen children. In fact, his form was quite feminine. And he was a bit of an egghead.

Neat-o.

Quoted: Scientists have found a cluster of spruces in the mountains in western Sweden which, at an age of 8,000 years, may be the world's oldest living trees. ...

California's "Methuselah" tree, a Great Basin bristlecone pine, is often cited as the world's oldest living tree with a recorded age of between 4,500 and 5,000 years.

if they bred the "hexapus" with an octopus, would we get "septapus" offspring? ;)

Quoted: English marine experts have laid their hands on an octopus that's missing two of its own: a six-limbed creature that they have dubbed 'hexapus.'

T and I were wondering this exact thing just the other day ...

Quoted: Influenza viruses coat themselves in fatty material that hardens and protects them in colder temperatures -- a finding that could explain why winter is the flu season, U.S. researchers reported on Sunday. ...

In warmer outdoor temperatures this protective coating melts, and unless it is inside a living person or animal, the virus perishes.