February 16, 2009 – 6:07 pm
I always find that remembering what I had for breakfast is trial enough, but for those readers suffering from bad memories (You know the ones- sat through ‘The Spirit’. Made to stay with ‘uncle’ Barnaby etc etc) it turns out that common heart drugs may have the ability to cheer you right up, eternal sunshine fashion (though not, unfortunately, to make me forget sitting through that movie). In recent tests, the beta blocker propranolol was shown to alter the way subjects recalled traumatic experiences. Before the US citizens among you swap your Zanex out though, remember that this stuff also affects good memories, And according to Dr Daniel Sokol, lecturer in Medical Ethics at St George’s, University of London;
“Removing bad memories is not like removing a wart or a mole. It will change our personal identity since who we are is linked to our memories. It may perhaps be beneficial in some cases, but before eradicating memories, we must reflect on the knock-on effects that this will have on individuals, society and our sense of humanity.”
So, while this may lead to early onset Alzheimer’s , reduced IQ, heart conditions and possibly anal leakage too, it’s got to be easier than dealing with that recent valentines break-up right? Ain’t science wonderful?
LINK (ns)
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February 16, 2009 – 4:58 pm
Everyone who’s ever visited the south west of England already knows how weird it can be, coming over with a sort of overly-medicated, cider-soaked Lost Boys vibe (on it’s better days), so it doesn’t really come as a surprise to find that the town that bought us the Owlman appears to be home to yet more beasts unknown by science. According to the ‘Falmouth Packet’ newspaper, local resident Sam Bradbury had a pretty weird encounter after hearing some rustling in the bushes on the way home last night. According to Sam:
“It was a little bigger than a dog and had the face of a cat with eyes that were glazed over and luminescent like a lion’s at night. It left when it saw me but appeared to only walk on two hind legs much like a kangaroo would and had behind it a bushy tail like a fox.”
Online cryptozoologists appear to be stumped, but here at ES we pride ourselves on in-depth research, so I am going on record as saying that the artists depiction almost perfectly matches the 70s Marvel character ‘Rocket Raccoon‘. Man I’m glad I moved to the city.
LINK (FP)
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February 16, 2009 – 11:58 am
Two nuclear submarines, one British and one French collided earlier this month thanks to choppy seas (something that was clearly unforeseen). This story could have been about the insanity of allowing that to happen, asking how often this happens or that this was a possible cover up for a Metal Gear Solid-esque nuclear warhead theft.
But the thing that really stood out in this story is the panicked hyperbole expressed by the CND (Coalition for Nuclear Disarmament) spokesperson:
The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament described the reported collision as “a nuclear nightmare of the highest order”.
The CND seem not to have realized that what they imagined happened didn’t actually happen. Still, why wait until armageddon to use the sentence “a nuclear nightmare of the highest order.”
The two submarines are key parts of each nation’s nuclear deterrent, and would have been carrying missiles, though both the UK and France have insisted there was no danger of a nuclear incident.
Not that they’d ever admit something like that was close to happening. Still, I like the idea that when the two submarines collide, instead of just a bit of scraping metal happening, a Shwarzenegger explosion occurs where a small bump leads quite literally to a massive nuclear explosion along with an awesome looking mushroom cloud.
LINK (BBC)
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February 13, 2009 – 10:19 am
On the subject of orbiting debris, which is quite an awesome subject, pictures have been released giving an artists impression of the 12,000 approx. pieces of bits and bobs that are floating around. It is unknown just how realistic the rendering is but one thing is known – it looks really cool. The picture was created by the European Space Agency, so chances are it is not just an attempt to boost their profile following the events described in the story below, but more like a public service announcement, should anyone have the desire to blast off into space.
Space debris comprise the ever-increasing amount of inactive space hardware in orbit around the Earth as well as fragments of spacecraft that have broken up, exploded or otherwise become abandoned. About 50 percent of all trackable objects are due to in-orbit explosion events (about 200) or collision events (less than 10).
One question remains: why the hell aren’t they videoing these awesome events?
LINK (ESA)
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February 12, 2009 – 1:38 pm
With all the stuff orbiting the Earth, it was only a matter of time til something smashed into something else.
Two big communications satellites collided in the first-ever crash of two intact spacecraft in orbit, shooting out a pair of massive debris clouds and posing a slight risk to the international space station.
NASA said it will take weeks to determine the full magnitude of the crash, which occurred nearly 500 miles over Siberia on Tuesday.
“We knew this was going to happen eventually,” said Mark Matney, an orbital debris scientist at Johnson Space Center in Houston.
NASA believes any risk to the space station and its three astronauts is low. It orbits about 270 miles below the collision course. There also should be no danger to the space shuttle set to launch with seven astronauts on Feb. 22, officials said, but that will be re-evaluated in the coming days.
We will be taking bets on when this happens again…
LINK (Yahoo News)
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