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POPSImmortal Invaders Infect World's Oceans We aren't in any immediate danger of knock-on effects either, as the jetsetting jellyfish-ettes seem to be integrating quite harmlessly into their new homes (though some shrimp might disagree). The rather damp phoenix-stylings of the hydrozoan have obviously made them a hot topic in genetics, but don't expect to buy your immortality pills just yet - this is one life extension option that isn't even remotely applicable to humans.
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POPSGenetically engineered cells make their own nanomagnets, providing clear MRI images. If genetically engineering cells to produce their own magnetic nanoparticles proves successful, this provides a new window through which to view many biological processes as they unfold, from the formation of tumors to the migration of stem cells injected to treat disease. "It's just amazing that they can get a mammalian cell to actually make the material," says Lee Josephson, an associate professor at the Harvard Medical School's Center for Molecular Imaging Research. "I think it's a really meaningful piece of work."
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POPSVolcanic floor at Yellowstone rising I believe that there are 6 volcanoes on Earth, that if ever to have a full eruption, would result in catastrophic climate changes. The ash would block the sunlight, killing plant life and all who feed upon it. Air quality would be unsafe, earthquakes would be triggered, to say nothing of the fires and tsunamis. Yellowstone is one of those volcanoes.
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POPSrare fossil octopuses found legs-suckers-ink and all- fell to the bottom of the oxygenless ocean floor due to the anoxy-decay was prevented- and thus this critter was preserved
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POPSThe Bush Tragedy Jacob Weisberg uncovers the twisted, storied (and thoroughly American) histories behind the pedigreed, genteel Bush and the brash, opulent Walker clans, whose 1921 marriage-merger generated unparalleled political fame and fortune, producing an "exploding blob" of successful, well-heeled, multi-named white men—culminating, of course, in the 41st and 43rd presidents of the United States. A product of his Ivy League upbringing, academic and corporate shortcomings, and unseemly familial wranglings, Weisberg traces the root cause of W.'s presidential failings to his life-long jealousy of his father's successes and petulant opposition to everything the reserved, prudent, self-deprecating patriarch represented. It's a fascinating character study as well as a sad tale of hubris, backstabbing, and inescapable downfall, magnified by his position as leader of the free world.
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POPSAmateur spies gassy 'cosmic ghost' Some people get to name an object. Even fewer get to name a new class of object. Now we'll have people scanning the skies for Voorwerps. One day we might even discover what they are. I wonder if they come in different colours?
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POPS Giant Mystery Blob Discovered Near Dawn of Time The cloud predates similar blobs, known as Lyman-Alpha blobs, which existed when the universe was 2 billion to 3 billion years old. Researchers named their new find Himiko, after an ancient Japanese queen with an equally murky past. Himiko holds more than 10 times as much mass as the next largest object found in the early universe, or roughly the equivalent mass of 40 billion suns. At 55,000 light years across, it spans about half the diameter of our Milky Way Galaxy. Lyman-Alpha blobs remain a mystery because existing telescopes have a hard time peering so far back to nearly the dawn of the universe. Himiko sits right on the doorstep of an era called the reionization epoch, which lasted between 200 million and 1 billion years after the Big Bang. After making the initial sighting with the Subaru telescope in Hawaii in 2007, Ouchi and his colleagues followed up using instruments from the Keck/DEIMOS and Magellan/IMACS arrays.
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POPSOdd Comet Possibly from Another Star System The oddball could shed light on the formation and evolution of comets. These blobs of dust and frozen gases may be the oldest, most primitive bodies in the solar system. In fact, they hold the earliest record of material from the nebula that formed the sun and planets.
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