... "Never, ever talk to the federal government."

] Thomas Campbell Butler, at 63 years of age, is completing
] the 1st year of a 2-year sentence in federal prison,
] following an investigation and trial that was initiated
] after he voluntarily reported that he believed vials
] containing _Yersinia pestis_ were missing from his
] laboratory at Texas Tech University. We take this
] opportunity to remind the infectious diseases community
] of the plight of our esteemed colleague, whose career and
] family have, as a result of his efforts to protect us
] from infection by this organism, paid a price from which
] they will never recover.

The FBI sends a strong message to the scientific community...

] Some scientists now believe they may have finally
] discovered its root. We're all essentially mind readers,
] they say.

So, how well have you developed your sixth sense?

Scientists Say Everyone Can Read Minds

Winter Solstice Dec 21 2004 7:42 AM EST

For those of us on the east coast, the sun will be at its closest about a half hour after it rises.

The reason for the season

I'm not sure what to say about this. This is very strange. Slightly erotic. Work safe, to the degree you don't mind coworkers thinking you are strange.. Very strange.

Woman on Blender Action

This is an interesting application that tracks word count across various webpages.

My name is the 3050th most used word on the web. It is followed by votes, proud, preform, and hung.

WORDCOUNT / Tracking the Way We Use Language

] The collapse of the earth's magnetic field, which both
] guards the planet and guides many of its creatures,
] appears to have started in earnest about 150 years ago.
] The field's strength has waned 10 percent to 15 percent
] so far and this deterioration has accelerated of late,
] increasing debate over whether it portends a reversal of
] the lines of magnetic force that normally envelop the
] earth.

The Earth is unstable.

IHT: Will compasses point south?

A must-have for mad science laboratories everywhere.

Only you can prevent Gray Goo

As it happens, several significant new books ... could settle the debate right now -- if people take the trouble to read them.

Most public debates in the US seem to fall into this category.

Those looking for some facts to go along with their "rich people will destroy our future" hypothesis could do worse then to look at this information (and they typically do). The reality that we've accepted a several degree temperature increase over the next 100 years regardless of who is counting, coupled with recent revelations about bifurcations in the equilibrium states of oceanic systems. The worst case realistic scenario is in fact rather troubling. Not "we're all going to die" troubling, but certainly "England is no longer really a hospitable place to live" troubling.

Be Afraid. Be Very Afraid.

] The discovery was made by chance by two biochemists
] conducting research into drugs for cancer and Alzheimer's
] in a medical laboratory at Vanderbilt University,
] Nashville, Tennessee.

Ask for cures for cancer, get blue roses. Interesting. Gotta love the way certain fields of science can be...

This feels like a good time to remind everyone that we have asked for killer robots, robot servants, and every other type of robot device imaginable.

Telegraph | Scientific breakthrough: the blue rose

Archaeologists have found what they believe to be the site of the Library of Alexandria, often described as the world's first major seat of learning.

Library of Alexandria discovered