Beware ManSheepMonkey!

Japanese scientists are growing monkey organs on sheep -- but they have a really good reason, I promise!

They’re trying to learn how to grow human organs on sheep for transplants, including hearts, livers, pancreases, and skin. Pretty cool, huh? Thousands and thousands of lives saved.

All thanks to the horror of stem cells.

(Too bad none of these stem cell breakthroughs ever happen in the US. Hopefully, that’s about to change.)

Free Money for Mad Scientists

90 per cent of the projects might fail, and there might even be the odd charlatan trying to apply for a grant.

But if 10% succeed, wow! It’ll be worth every penny. Especially since it’s Bill Gates’s money, not mine. Hit the link to see all the wacky, zany science that just might save your life some day.

More Reasons to Eat Chocolate

Uncle Sam is willing to shell out $4,500 for your brand new car. That’s the new plan President Obama worked out with Democrats in the House today. You just have to trade in an old gas-guzzler for a nice, modern gas-saving model.

And might I suggest one that runs on Willie Wonka’s trash?

Scientists today unveiled a racecar that can go 145 miles per hour on the vegetable oils and chocolate waste that candy manufacturers call garbage.

Now That’s What I Call Science! Vol. 1

[Researchers at Harvard University] searched the internet site Youtube for videos of animals dancing to music - including parrots, dogs and cats.

From more than 1,000 videos, they found evidence that 14 species of parrot and one species of elephant can move in time to music. Chimpanzees, dogs and cats appeared to have no sense of rhythm. The findings are published in the journal Current Biology.

“For a long time, people have thought that the ability to move to a beat was unique to humans,” added Dr Schachner. “After all, there is no convincing evidence that our closest relatives, chimpanzees and other apes, can keep a beat, and there is similarly no evidence that our pet dogs and cats can line up their actions with a musical beat.”

Yeah, so, for my research, I'm gonna, like, watch a bunch of YouTube videos of, like, animals and stuff, and see if they can, like, dance or whatever.

Watch Your Stories. It's Good for You.

TV shows make you happy. Science says so.

Study participants felt down when asked to recount real-life moments of social rejection, but they perked right back up again when asked to recount their favorite TV episodes and characters. Who cares if one's real and one's fake? Not your brain.

Might I suggest Buffy the Vampire Slayer? Seasons three, five, and six are the best. Also try Sports Night.

How Do You Pronounce "Gliese"?

Scientists have found a planet only 1.9 times the size of Earth around a star only 20.5 lightyears away! Even a competing group of planet hunters calls this "the most exciting discovery" yet in the search for new worlds.

Where the Boys Aren't

Reproduction without sex is fairly common in the ant world, but the Mycocepurus smithii is the first known to be a male-free species. The phenomenon takes the stress out of finding a mate and may help keep the peace in colonies, the scientists believe.

And this isn't some tiny, obscure species of ant in a neglected corner of the rainforest. These little guys, er, girls run the length of South America from Panama to Argentina.

Give the Order, Mr. President

No Executive Order on stem cells yet, but this is encouraging.

Do You Feel Lucky, Punk?

How lucky you are is closely tied to how observant you are, according to a scientific study. Two groups of people were given a newspaper and told to tell the researcher how many photos were in it. One group was full of people who claim they’re generally pretty lucky, and the other group said they were generally unlucky. Neither group knew that the newspaper contained a message in large print saying, “Tell the experimenter you have seen this and win $50.”

The people who considered themselves lucky were much more likely to notice the secret message and collect the $50. Luck has a lot to do with spotting unexpected opportunities.

Trivia: Dirty Harry never actually said, “Do you feel luck, Punk?”

Boys Will Be Girls

Science news:

Treating a baby boy like a girl and vice versa can change the way their brains work, new research suggests.

It had previously been thought that such things were decided long before birth.

That second sentence is a bit overstated. People who study genetics certainly thought so; sociologists, not so much. Still, fascinating research.

UPDATE: A more respectable news source was requested, so here you go. This one also has better information on what the research might mean for humans.

Damn Hippies at Dow Corning

According to Stephanie Burns, CEO of Dow Corning: “We’re… confident that solar technology represents a tremendous opportunity for both clean energy and economic growth.”

How confident are they? So confident that they’re investing up to $2.5 billion in a joint venture with Hemlock Semiconductors in Clarksville, Tennessee. Today’s announcement means 1,000 construction jobs in the short term and up to 800 high-paying jobs at the facility in the long run.

"This is a huge win for Tennessee. They're talking about a range of investment of between $1.2 billion to $2.5 billion over time. If they get to the upper end of that range, it will be the largest investment in our state's history," Gov. Phil Bredesen said.

One Billion Dollars!

Gosh, maybe President-elect Obama is right! Green technology just might be the key to economic strength! Looks like Hemlock Semiconductor is going to invest a billion dollars or more in developing solar technologies, right here in Tennessee.

Sarcasm Is the Best Medicine

Turns out there’s a medical use for sarcasm. Hey, brilliant work, guys. You totally deserve a Nobel Prize for this.

Hullo, CHaP

Okay, what if you had a little power generator at your home or business that provided electricity, and the heat given off by that generator was captured and used to heat the building?

It’s called Combined Heat and Power (CHP), and the big brains over at Oak Ridge National Laboratory think we should use a lot more of it.

If the U.S. started getting 20% of our electricity from CHP technologies by 2030, that would eliminate 60% of our projected increase in carbon dioxide emissions.

Some countries over in Europe already get 20% of their electricity from CHP sources, but some countries in Europe are roughly the size of Rutherford County so I’m not sure that’s a fair comparison. By the way, CHP technologies have been around about a 100 years.

Braaaaaaains!

For the first time, researchers have cultivated embryonic stem cells to form not just individual brain cells but actual brain tissue! In the long term, this could help repair the damage to stroke victims and Alzheimer’s patients. In the short term, it could help test drugs for their effect on human brain tissue in a laboratory environment rather than human testing.

The research, of course, did not take place in the United States. It was in Japan. And it was government-funded. Is it Jan. 20 yet?

I’m Gonna Live Forever

Are we getting closer to a cure for aging? Scientists can boost the lifespan of mice by 50% by pumping up production of an enzyme called telomerase. The same process may work in humans.
Telomerase helps protect the chromosomes in your cells from being damaged by age and cell division. If you can eliminate chromosome damage, cells can pretty much live forever – which means you can live up to 50% longer.

Of course, heightened levels of telomerase (10x normal in the experiments on mice) can cause cancer, so we’ll need a cure for that too.

Science: Getting into a Transexual's Genes

Potentially exciting news in the scientific study of gender identity: scientists have identified an apparent genetic difference that may contribute to transsexuality among men.