Wednesday science tidbits
The science news of the past few weeks just hasn’t done much for me (it
didn’t float my concrete boat, so to speak!), but in the past few days
there have been a couple science stories that piqued my interest, so I am able
to bring you Wednesday Tidbits again. I should probably confess here that
since Wednesday night is my group’s meeting night, it is really just a lazy
way to post quickly. Just think of me tonight sitting on a deck overlooking the
Indian River, drinking Black Russians in the moonlight, eating fresh seafood,
and basically partying with 30 other women. I know you won’t disagree with
me when I say that the internet is great, but a restaurant full of lesbians rocks!
In case you didn’t catch this earlier in the week, archaeologists have
found the ceremonial burial
of a cat on the island of Cyprus. The cat was obviously a ‘pet’,and
not a native species of the island, some 9,500 years ago. It looks like we have
to rethink our notion that the Egyptians were the first to domesticate the cat.
Having trouble sleeping at night? After reading about the comeback
of bedbugs, you might! Some scientists are theorizing that the resurgence
is because the insects are becoming resistant to our current insecticides. Great,
huh? Read this and next time you feel that little pinch in the middle of the
night, that could be a mosquito or might be your imagination, I bet you will
be stripping the sheets off your bed and fumigating the furniture! (Some
day I should tell you about my good friend who was attacked by bedbugs in a
‘reputable’ hotel. Very creepy.)
Scientists at the University of Arizona, have developed a program
that will calculate the damage to Earth from a meteor strike. Of course you
have to know the size of the meteor, what angle it will hit the Earth, and how
far away from you it will hit. Interesting, but not very practical. But, after
reading this BBC
article that spells out what would happen if a relatively small meteor (45
meters wide) were to hit the city of London, it is obvious to me that a large
number of people will be toast if a meteor ever impacts a populated region.
The scenario includes winds of an unbelievable 2,500 miles an hour–and
we fret about hurricane winds of 120 mph here in Florida!
5:48:54 PM 
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