Birds Come From Dinosaurs

I taught my 3-year-old son that birds evolved from dinosaurs and "birds come from dinosaurs" has become one of his favorite science facts ("gravity makes you go down" and "mars is a red planet" are some others). Now there's more confirmation of that extraordinary theory as fossils of feathered dinosaurs have been found in China. Researcher Xu Xing: "The fossils provide confirmation that the bird-dinosaur hypothesis is correct, and supports the idea that birds descended from theropod dinosaurs (the group of predatory dinosaurs that includes allosaurus and velociraptor)." The fossils predate archaeopteryx, the formerly oldest bird/dinosaur. We discussed other bird-like dinosaurs as part of the Extinct Series.

(image credit: impression of Achiornis huxleyi, Hu Dongyu/AP)

Medical Genomics

Personal genomics is its infancy but very exciting work is happening now. Tech Review covers researchers using genomic studies to understand genetic diseases and cancer.

Quantum Water Bear

Quantum mechanics tells us that probability underlies all things, that atoms exist in a haze of uncertainty. This allows the strangeness of superposition, in which atoms or molecules can exist in two states simultaneously. Researchers are now trying to test superposition of living things, starting with viruses (sort of alive). They might then advance to the extraordinary tardigrade, the microscopic "water bear". From wikipedia, "Tardigrades are polyextremophiles and are able to survive in extreme environments that would kill almost any other animal. Some can survive temperatures of -273°C, close to absolute zero, temperatures as high as 151 °C (303 °F), 1,000 times more radiation than other animals such as humans, nearly a decade without water, and even the vacuum of space." That's like evolution's NASA astronaut program. Check out video of the water bear.

(image credit: tardigrade, Ralph O Schill, via newscientist.com)

Young Innovators

Tech Review lists 2009 Young Innovators under 35. There's some amazing stuff. Check out Jorge Conde of Knome.

(image credit: Bryan Christie Design, nanoparticle mimicking HDL)
 
 
 
 

The Last Journey of a Genius

PBS NOVA's program (originally The Quest for Tannu Tuva on BBC Horizon) on physicist Richard Feynman and his search for Tannu Tuva. Part 1 below. More Feynman here.

Toy Symphony

Tod Machover's great talk on music, technology and letting kids write symphonies. Hyperscore site here.