Nothing could be better than the top 10 ScienceNOWs of 2010 as my first art/thought blog.

Please enjoy my first blog on images and art that excite our senses combined with thoughts and simplified science that expand our imagination.

 

Artful thoughts on:

Top 10 ScienceNOWs of 2010 by David Grimm  (ScienceNOW, Dec 2010)

#10: An island made entirely by floating sea turtles

Basking loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) expose their shells above the water. It may look like an island but it moves, changes shape and may just disappear.

- also reported today in the The Journal of Experimental Biology

#9: Are your hair aging faster than your toenails?

According to Einstein, time passes faster if you are at a higher altitude. Can a futuristic optical clock show that your hair are aging faster than your toenails?

#8: Better to run barefoot?

Shoes protect from sharp objects, but barefoot running is better for reducing stress and impact related injuries.

-also being published tomorrow in Nature

#7: Can and should robots lie?

Can robotic deceptive behavior be advantageous to humans?

#6: Spiky genitalia help in hanging on to the female!

Enough said
-also published online, Proceedings of the Royal Society B

#5: Metallic disks like "flying saucers" to cool the earth?

Disk-shaped particles comprised of different materials forming the top and the bottom will be lifted upwards depending on how these materials react to light and dark according to a natural phenomenon called "photophoresis". These particles could migrate up or down in the atmosphere in a geoengineering scheme to cool the atmosphere.

- also published online today, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

#4: Your dog might be a pessimist

Not surprising at all, dogs can be unhappy animals just as us humans.

- also published online today, Current Biology

#3: Smart oil drop

Like lab rats finding food in a maze, an oil drop finds the shortest distance in a maze leading to hydrochloric acid. This finding may have beneficial applications in many fields, including medicine and computer technologies. 

#2: Irresistible dancing

Don't thrash your arms and legs, and keep your head and body moving - that's what works for computer avatars trying to become irresistible dancers.

#1: In case you were wondering, we may live in a wormhole 

It has been difficult to reconcile the forces of gravity with the dark energy that seems to be expanding our universe. And the big question of what existed before the big bang? A new theory suggests that a giant star may have collapsed in one universe to create a wormhole connecting to another universe creating conditions that could have started our universe in the wormhole. Okay, I can consider this theory to be plausible, but my first question would be what created the star and those two universes?