Erin Podolak, Author at The Mary Sue

Read Article Otis The Skydiving Pug Might Be Braver Than You [Video]

Otis The Skydiving Pug Might Be Braver Than You [Video]

Would you jump out of an airplane? I'm sure some of you have, and I'm sure some of you answered absolutely not. But if you are in the absolutely not camp, I hate to say it, but this adorable dog is braver than you. Otis (a pug) not only goes skydiving with his owner, professional skydiver Will DaSilva, he enjoys the experience. Safely nestled in a harness built just for him, Otis is more afraid to go to the vet than he is to jump out of a plane. This little dog is now a pro, going on bigger and better jumps. Adorable (check out those goggles!) and badass.

(via ViralViralVideos)

Aug 18, 2011

Jaw Droppingly Beautiful Small World Photography

Every year, entries in the Nikon Small World competition are stunningly beautiful. The competition receives thousands of submissions of extremely close-up photography from scientists and photomicrographers around the world. These pictures are captured with the help of microscopes, and allow us to see things in amazing detail that we wouldn't normally be able to. The photographs are truly works of art, making things that might make us shudder, like the ant's head above, appear completely breathtaking. The winners of the competition will be determined by a panel of judges, but the public can help choose the winner of the popular vote. The judges will make their selections on October 4th and people can check out the gallery of more than 100 finalists and choose the popular vote until October 31st. Check out a few of our favorite entries in the competition after the jump.

Aug 18, 2011

Ancient Egyptians Styled Their Hair for the Afterlife

Everyone knows that ancient Egyptians headed into the afterlife looking their best. The beautiful garments and jewels found in their tombs centuries ago is evidence of this. However, new research suggests that the Egyptians took looking good even in death to even bigger extremes. Researchers from the University of Manchester, UK have uncovered evidence of styling with hair gel on ancient Egyptian mummies. Led by Natalie McCreesh, the researchers found that men and women would have their hair styled with a fat-based "gel" when they were embalmed. The researchers studied hair samples from 15 mummies from the Kellis 1 cemetery in Dakhla, oasis, in Egypt, which is a community cemetery dating back 3,000 years. The researchers also evaluated mummies from museum collections for a sample of mummies of both sexes between the ages of 4 and 58, ranging from 3,500 to 2,300 years ago.

Aug 18, 2011

For The Love Of Bud, Marijuana Genome Sequenced

It's alright officers, they were just holding the samples for a friend. Researchers at the company Medicinal Genomics have published the raw data of the Cannabis sativa genome. Yes, scientists sequenced the DNA of weed. You know, for medical reasons. The raw data, including some 131 billion bases of shotgun sequence, have not yet been assembled into contiguous chunks for more detailed analysis. Still, the company released the information on Amazon's EC2 public cloud computing service. According to Medicinal Genomics founder Kevin McKernan, when the fragments of data are assembled the C. sativa genome will likely be around 400 million bases, more complex that other plants like the model organism Arabidopsis thaliana.

Aug 18, 2011

The Moon May Be Millions Of Years Younger Than Previously Thought

A new analysis conducted on lunar rocks brought back to Earth by the Apollo 16 astronauts has led researchers to believe that the moon may be 60 million years younger than previously thought. This would make the current prevailing theory about how the moon formed impossible. The new results date the moon at around 4.36 billion years old, which means that the moon formed around the same time as the oldest crusts on Earth (4.4 billion year old zircons from Australia.) Led by Lars Borg of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in CA, the researchers used new refining techniques to study the isotopes lead and neodymium in a 1.88gram sample of ferroan anorthosites (FAN) from NASA's lunar rock collection. The 4.36 billion year number refers to the time when the sample crystallized. This opposes the giant impact theory, the currently favored theory about moon formation (although this theory has itself been called into question lately.)

Aug 18, 2011

Thermal Imaging Cameras Are More Effective Way To Steal PIN Numbers

A team of researchers from the University of California at San Diego have found that thermal imaging cameras can be used to steal PIN numbers when people make a cash withdrawal from an ATM. Residual heat from a person's finger when it touches the keypad to punch in their PIN can be viewed with an infrared camera to give away your combination without anyone having to actually see your finger on the button. For criminals, thermal imaging has some advantages. Whether or not the user visually blocks the keypad while they type their number will make no difference, and PIN harvesting can still be automated to provide crooks with a leg up. Researchers Keaton Mowery, Sarah Meiklejohn and Stefan Savage of UCSD studied 21 volunteers punching in 27 randomly selected PIN numbers on plastic and brushed metal keys. The study showed that plastic PIN pads retain the heat signature from the finger the longest showing which numbers and which order they were pressed.

Aug 17, 2011

NASA Debunks Comet Elenin Rumors, No Armageddon Here

You know the Internet is getting carried away with itself when NASA has to issue a press release just to assure everyone that we aren't facing armageddon. What seems to be a rather insignificant story about a comet passing close (but not too close) to Earth has gotten wrapped up in doomsday predictions and run-for-the-hills hysteria. Never fear, life as we know it isn't about to end. At least, not from anything that has to do with the Comet Elenin, which is set to pass by Earth some 22 million miles (35 million kilometers) away during its closest approach on Oct. 16, 2011. The comet, more formally known as C/2010 X1, was first detected on Dec. 10, 2010 by Leonid Elenin in Lyuberts, Russia using images obtained from an observatory in New Mexico. Since then, Comet Elenin has been on track to pass by Earth on its way to perihelion, its closest point to the sun. While television and movies have made comets approaching Earth something to be incredibly weary about, NASA reports that there will be no influence in any way on Earth due to the comet's passing.

Aug 17, 2011

Primitive Eel Species Described As "Living Fossil" Discovered

Proving once again that there are still places on our own planet that have yet to yield all their secrets, scientists have discovered a unique eel off the coast of the Republic of Palau in the Pacific Ocean. This eel has been dubbed a "living fossil" due to its unusually primitive features. These features led researchers to create a new taxonomic family to classify the eel in relation to other eel species. The eel, described in the researchers' paper in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, is an 18cm-long female, collected during a dive in an 35-m deep underwater cave. The species was named Protoanguilla palau, according to the new family, genus, and species names bestowed by the researchers. According to the researchers from Chiba's Natural History Museum in Japan, the Southern Marine Laboratory in Palau, and the Smithsonian Institute in Washington DC, the eel likely embarked on an independent evolutionary history millions of years ago.

Aug 17, 2011

Everyone Should Try New Foods Like This Puppy Eating A Lime [Video]

The Internet is full of videos of puppies doing cute puppy things, but we just couldn't resist this video of an Alaskan Klee Kai trying figure out what to make of this lime. More things in life should be as exciting as this lime wedge is for this puppy, named Kiwi. The dog gets so excited it even takes a dance break, but then it goes right back to tasting the lime. Some YouTube viewers were concerned that the lime would be harmful for the 12-week old puppy, but according to the owner's comments on the video, the little bit of lime the dog ingested didn't hurt it one bit. The next time you try a new food, you should probably adopt this puppy's method: Taste, freak out, taste again (just to be sure).

(via YouTube/Kleesentials)

Aug 16, 2011

Electronic Sensors Stick Like Temporary Tattoos, Present Endless Possiblities

A team of researchers from the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign have developed small electronic devices that can be worn on the skin. These temporary tattoos make the person wearing them a part of the device, that can bend, stretch, and move along with the skin. The researchers were hoping to make less obtrusive medical monitors for special needs patients, like premature babies. But the new sensors have proven so successful they could also be used for a variety of other applications. The idea of making wearable sensors that adhere to the skin seems so easy and useful its surprising no one has developed them before. According to researchers, the major challenge in developing the technology was making the parts of the sensor as flexible and stretchy as skin. To do this, the researchers had to take brittle silicon and make it more bendable by making the sensor incredibly thin. The electronic parts of the sensor, light-emitting diodes, solar cells, transistors, and antennae, were assembled in an S-shape that would allow the circuits to still work when stretched in different directions.

Aug 16, 2011

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