Full Disk Image of Earth Captured August 26, 2011 by NASA Goddard Photo and Video on Flickr.

Link: How the National Zoo Animals Reacted to the Earthquake

Interesting press release about the animals’ reactions just before last week’s earthquake that shook northeastern america.

• The earthquake hit the Great Ape House and Think Tank Exhibit during afternoon feeding time.
• About five to ten seconds before the quake, many of the apes, including Kyle (an orangutan) and Kojo (a Western lowland gorilla), abandoned their food and climbed to the top of the tree-like structure in the exhibit.
• About three seconds before the quake, Mandara (a gorilla) let out a shriek and collected her baby, Kibibi, and moved to the top of the tree structure as well.
• Iris (an orangutan) began “belch vocalizing”—an unhappy/upset noise normally reserved for extreme irritation—before the quake and continued this vocalization following the quake.

http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Publications/PressMaterials/PressReleases/NZP/2011/earthquake.cfm

via boingoing

Link: The Kid Should See This.

Much better than TV! This is awesome for parents who want smart kids 🙂

via kottke

Link: Tor/Forge Books and NASA Jointly Announce Publishing Collaboration

About time somebody set the stories straight, there’s way too much imagination and speculation in those heretic science-fiction books!

http://torforge.wordpress.com/2011/08/23/torforge-books-and-nasa-jointly-announce-publishing-collaboration/

Link: Samsung cites ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ in Apple case

Link: ‘Kraftwerk Who?’ Pioneering ’50s Synthesizer unearthed in French Barn

Link: Photovoltaic polarizers could make self-charging smartphone dreams come true

Link: New leukemia treatment exceeds ‘wildest expectations’

Doctors have treated only three leukemia patients, but the sensational results from a single shot could be one of the most significant advances in cancer research in decades. And it almost never happened.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44090512/

This is fantastic news and we can only hope funding will now start flowing so that further research can be done. 

Link: NASA finds DNA components in meteorites, says they originated in space (video)

Link: Prime minister back home, civil servant in Buffalo

Surreal and amazing story.