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POPSMichael Phelps: ‘Naturally’ transhuman
* He has proportionately short legs relative to his long, powerful trunk; this large upper body is the engine that powers his long arms. Moreover, his unique physique reduces drag through the water and allows for maximum propulsion. * Phelps has a greater-than-average lung capacity allowing him to execute his underwater dolphin kicks longer than the competition. * He has a genetic advantage that cause his muscles to produce 50% less lactic acid than other athletes. This means he can work at higher work loads for longer periods. * With a low body fat of 4%, he is better able to convert his effort into speed. Looking at this list it’s as if Phelps was designed to swim. Which leads to an interesting question: Given the potential for genetic modification and gene doping, should it be acceptable for other athletes to acquire the same physiological endowments through artificial means? If not, what makes it so acceptable to come by these traits ‘naturally?’ And how
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POPSBBC opens world's biggest online zoo more: Starting with 370 animals, including four octopuses and a solitary starfish, the databank of clips and still pictures will be reinforced on a daily basis. BBC staff are combing through hundreds of wildlife programmes, from spectaculars such as Planet Earth to regional TV news items, to create an unprecedented collection. Early stars in terms of hits online include Darwin's frog, a tiny resident of forests in Chile, which gives birth through the mouth of the male. The process is repeated in slow motion – another feature of the archive's ability to spy on Earth's wild creatures to an unprecedented extent.
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POPSunderwater waterfallby
mona 11-13-2007 
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fascinating - impossible to clip. visit source for full article. not very long and certainly a worth-while read!
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POPScon tem po rary art seems like an interesting site 4 photography & art. last photo: "Guys & Dolls: Seeing Stars", is a two-person exhibition of photographs by Rose Hartman and Holger Keifel that juxtaposes revealing moments of boxing personalities with those of social celebrities. Dating from the 1970's through today, Rose Hartman and Holger Keifel's photographs include world known figures, such as Jackie O, Donatella Versace, Naomi Campbell, Oscar de la Hoya,
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POPS20 Things You Didn't Know About Sex
6 Barbary macaques have a distinctive way to get their mates to make a sperm donation: yelling. If the female does not shout, the male almost never climaxes. 7 How do we know this? German primatologist Dana Pfefferle watched a group of macaques, counting the females’ yells and the males’ pelvic thrusts. She says this work is “quite weird, but it’s science.” 8 Here in the US of A, that kind of stuff ends up on YouTube. 9 Because Barry White sounds terrible underwater: Fish can produce a variety of noises with their bones, teeth, and gas bladders. Grant Gilmore of Estuarine Coastal and Ocean Science Inc. says that male fish probably use some of these sounds to woo females. 10 The spiny anteater, an egg-laying mammal native to Australia and New Guinea, has a penis with four heads, but only two fit into the female at once. 11 The tiny male paper nautilus, an octopus, impregnates the much larger female by shooting his penis (a modified tentacle) into her—and leaving it there.
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POPSEndangered Indonesian coral reefs Southeast Asia's biologically diverse coral reefs will disappear by the end of this century and wipe out coastal economies if climate change isn't addressed, conservation group WWF said in a report. The report, released to coincide with the World Ocean Conference in Manado, Sulawesi, warns that a do-nothing scenario will lead to a steady rise in sea temperatures and the death of the coral reefs.
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POPSEvolution of the Olympic Torch The 2008 Beijing Olympic torch can reportedly withstand winds of up to 40 miles an hour (65 kilometers an hour), partly due to the flat top of its Chinese-scroll-based design, according to engineer Richard Kelso.The exterior of the torch is made of aluminum-magnesium alloy and is decorated with 56 swirling clouds, one for each of China's ethnic groups.<<
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POPSCreating insignificant events -Futuristic art Vincent Callebaut 'work was lately exhibited in Paris ; ;" To believe in the world means to create events, even insignificant ones, that gets out of control, or create new space-times, even in reduced surfaces or volumes"
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