Swans on Tea

August 18, 1868. Jules Janssen “invents” helium. (At least, according to principal Skinner. “Curse the man who invented helium! Curse Pierre Jules César Janssen!)
Janssen was observing an eclipse and measured an emission line with a wavelength of 587.49 nm, which didn’t correspond to any known element. Norman Lockyer also observed the [...]

Cities play hardball to host biodefence lab
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) disregarded the advice of carefully selected experts to put a Flora, Mississippi, site on the shortlist of candidates, the Associated Press said Monday.
[...]
Now, other applicants are crying foul. “It is very suspicious,” said Irwin Goldman, whose Madison, Wisconsin, site failed to make the [...]

Algorithmic Architecture at oobject.
Algorithmic architecture uses computers to generate natural looking aperiodic forms that are are a revolutionary alternative to the extreme crystalline regularity of what has up to now been considered modern.

ARES — Perseverance is your word today. You will not become frustrated at your continued inability to separate quarks from each other.
TAURUS — You will suspect that the force pushing you away from the center of a circle is in fact a figment of your imagination, and would not be there if you were [...]

. . . does not apparently apply to the male anglerfishes of the superfamily Ceratiidae
When he finds a female, he bites into her skin, and releases an enzyme that digests the skin of his mouth and her body, fusing the pair down to the blood-vessel level. The male then atrophies into nothing more than a [...]

I spied a nit at which I must pick. This is something that’s become ingrained in certain science discussions, one of those innocent things that may or may not propagate a misconception and I’m sure it rarely causes an eyebrow to be raised, but, dammit, someone’s wrong on the internet.
Someone will tell [...]

The Periodic Coffee Table
By embedding all element samples in clear acrylic, they are beautifully presented and also protected from tarnishing. This format also helps to addresses health and safety issues, as all potentially toxic or corrosive substances are permanently encased in a thick layer of robust resin. Argon gas and mineral oil is further used [...]

Cuckoo’s Nest Hospital to be Torn Down
Oregon State Hospital, the mental institution where the 1975 movie One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest was filmed, is making way for a new complex. Most of the dilapidated, 125-year-old main building will be torn down and replaced starting this fall.
There’s nothing to the rumor that a giant pillow [...]

What’s with the plush toys? John at Cosmic Variance displays “The Particle Zoo” and then Chad at Uncertain Principles goes all squishy with some animal toys, presumably for futurebaby.
I gotta say, the fundamental particles creep me out a little — x-ed out eyes signifies “dead” in cartooning, and it upsets my sensibilities that you [...]

Cow farts collected in plastic tank for global warming study
In a bid to understand the impact of the wind produced by cows on global warming, scientists collected gas from their stomachs in plastic tanks attached to their backs.

Extraordinary Tongues and the Animals That Use Them
The tube-lipped nectar bat from Ecquador has a tongue one and a half times its own body length. It shoots it out with amazing accuracy while feeding at night. This huge tongue (in proportion to the 5.5cm bat) is not stored in the mouth. It is attached to [...]

A reminder that the submission deadline for “classic” science posts is coming up on the 15th, and the inaugural compendium of The Giant’s Shoulders will be hosted at Blog Around the Clock