10 Worst Jobs in Science

“It surprised even me how much you can learn about a whale through its feces,” says Rolland, who recently published the most complete study of right whales ever conducted. “You can test for pregnancy, measure hormones and biotoxins, examine its genetics. You can even tell individuals apart.”
Rolland pioneered whale-feces research in 1999. By 2003, she was frustrated by the small number of samples her poo patrol was collecting by blindly chasing whales on the open ocean. So she began taking along sniffer dogs that can detect whale droppings from as far as a mile away. When they bark, she points her research vessel in the direction of the brown gold, and as the boat approaches the feces—the excrement usually stays afloat for an hour after the deed is done and can be bright orange and oily depending on the type of plankton the whale feeds on—Rolland and her crew begin scooping up as much matter as they can using custom-designed nets. Samples are then placed in plastic jars and packed in ice (the largest chunks are just over a pound) to be shared with other researchers across North America. “We’ve literally been in fields of right-whale poop,” she marvels.

In the past few years, other whale researchers have adopted Rolland’s methods. Nick Gales of the Australia Antarctic Division now plies the Southern Ocean looking for endangered blue-whale dung, a pursuit that in 2003 led him to a scientific first. While tailing a minke whale, Gale’s team photographed what is believed to be the first bout of whale flatulence caught on film—a large, disconcertingly pretty bubble trailing behind the whale like an enormous jellyfish. “We stayed away from the bow after taking the picture,” Gales recalls. “It does stink.”

Whale farts, elephant vasectomist, hazmat diver, and more at PopScience

Sleepy Baby

The sleepy baby reminds me of the sleepy kitten:

Animal Intelligence- Squeek the Squirrel

Storyboard Artwork for The Venture Brothers

Storyboard artist Douglas Lovelace shares his storyboard work for The Venture Brothers.

link and image: Lovelace PopArt

10 Mind-Boggling Psychiatric Treatments

Neatorama has a list of 10 methods and theories about and treatment of mental illness. A sample from the article below blames a women's hysteria on a wandering uterus"

Once upon a time, women suffering from pretty much any type of mental illness were lumped together as victims of hysteria. The Greek physician Hippocrates [wiki] popularized the term, believing hysteria encompassed conditions ranging from nervousness to fainting fits to spontaneous muteness. The root cause, according to him, was a wandering womb.

So, whither does it wander? Curious about Hippocrates’ theory, Plato [wiki] asked himself that very question. He claimed that is the uterus "remains unfruitful long beyond its proper time, it gets discontented and angry and wanders in every direction through the body, closes up the passages of breath, and, by obstructing respiration, drives women to extremity."

Consequently, cures for hysteria involved finding a way to "calm down" the uterus. And while there was no dearth of methods for doing this (including holding foul-smelling substances under the patient’s nose to drive the uterus away from the chest), Plato believed that the only sure-fire way to solve the problem was to get married and have babies. After all, the uterus always ended up in the right place when it came time to bear a child.

Although "womb-calming" as psychiatric treatment died out long ago, hysteria as a diagnosis hung around until the 20th century, when doctors began identifying conditions such as depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and phobias.

link: 10 mind-bloggling psychiatric treatments

Selling the Moon

Dennis Hope, self-proclaimed Head Cheese of the Lunar Embassy, will promise you the moon. Or at least a piece of it. Since 1980, Hope has raked in over $9 million selling acres of lunar real estate for $19.99 a pop. So far, 4.25 million people have purchased a piece of the moon, including celebrities like Barbara Walters, George Lucas, Ronald Reagan, and even the first President Bush. Hope says he exploited a loophole in the 1967 United Nations Outer Space Treaty, which prohibits nations from owning the moon.

Because the law says nothing about individual holders, he says, his claim—which he sent to the United Nations—has some clout. “It was unowned land,” he says. “For private property claims, 197 countries at one time or another had a basis by which private citizens could make claims on land and not make payment. There are no standardized rules.”

Hope is right that the rules are somewhat murky—both Japan and the United States have plans for moon colonies—and lunar property ownership might be a powder keg waiting to spark. But Ram Jakhu, law professor at the Institute of Air and Space Law at McGill University in Toronto, says that Hope’s claims aren’t likely to hold much weight. Nor, for that matter, would any nation’s. “I don’t see a loophole,” Jakhu says. “The moon is a common property of the international community, so individuals and states cannot own it. That’s very clear in the U.N. treaty. Individuals’ rights cannot prevail over the rights and obligations of a state.”

Jakhu, a director of the International Institute for Space Law, believes that entrepreneurs like Hope have misread the treaty and that the 1967 legislation came about to block property claims in outer space. Historically, “the ownership of private property has been a major cause of war,” he says. “No one owns the moon. No one can own any property in outer space.”

Hope refuses to be discouraged. And he’s focusing on expansion. “I own about 95 different planetary bodies,” he says. “The total amount of property I currently own is about 7 trillion acres. The value of that property is about $100 trillion. And that doesn’t even include mineral rights.”

Just the thought of America and Japan marring the moon's surface with colonies makes me shiver, much less idiots like this trying to put the restriction of ownership on everything he sees.

link: Discover Magazine via Welsh View

New Surveylance Technology

Might be a tasty addition to the edible bug list.

Tunnel House

I've only seen the first picture of the tunnel house until now, but I always assumed it was just some creative usage of garage space..

images via Across-the-Board

Soccer/Football in the Mountains

It looks unreal; it's beautiful in a dreamy ephemeral way.

Insects as Food

While most people try to deter bugs from infecting their food supply,
it is often overlooked that arthropods are one of the most perfect food sources available. They take no effort to raise, they're chock full of protein, and they can be found at anywhere in the world at any given time.

Early Human Diet gives lots of information about the history of eating insects, and some insights into the edibility of different species, and SenseList provides a list of 32 insect foods you can buy online

I'd try it myself if I could get over how creepy the legs feel =/

Cover Those Unsightly Bug Spots on Your Car

This is SO morbidly adorable! More random pictures at Pizdaus

Children Are Losing Their Right to Roam

The map above shows the distance children were allowed to roam freely and unsupervised at the age of eight over four generations. The article continues into speculation about why childrens' independence are being hindered exponentially each generation:

"It's not just about time. Traffic is an important consideration, as is the fear of abduction, but I'm not sure whether that's real or perceived." She added: "Over four generations our family is poles apart in terms of affluence. But I'm not sure our lives are any richer."
The report's author, Dr William Bird, the health adviser to Natural England and the organiser of a conference on nature and health on Monday, believes children's long-term mental health is at risk. He has compiled evidence that people are healthier and better adjusted if they get out into the countryside, parks or gardens.

Read the rest of the article at DailyMail via BoingBoing

Prisons of the World

A list of several prisons based on their claim to fame, including the smallest, most secure, and most aesthetically pleasing.

link and image: Deputy Dog via BoingBoing

Artsy Shadows from Artsy Trash

I wonder how the artist got the lines on the shadow to be so crisp?

link and image: Pantherhouse via Spluch

Johnny Depp Recieves the Japanese Gameshow Performance of a Lifetime

This is so freakin' cute! I can totally imagine these girls forming the future Cosplay Dorks of Japan club.