Link: The NASA study of arsenic-based life was fatally flawed, say scientists. – Slate Magazine

“This Paper Should Not Have Been Published”

Scientists see fatal flaws in the NASA study of arsenic-based life.

Link: What Should a 4 Year Old Know? | A Magical Childhood

I was on a parenting bulletin board recently and read a post by a mother who was worried that her 4 1/2 year old did not know enough. “What should a 4 year old know?” she asked.

Most of the answers left me not only saddened but pretty soundly annoyed. One mom posted a laundry list of all of the things her son knew. Counting to 100, planets, how to write his first and last name, and on and on. Others chimed in with how much more their children already knew, some who were only 3. A few posted URL’s to lists of what each age should know. The fewest yet said that each child develops at his own pace and not to worry.

It bothered me greatly to see these mothers responding to a worried mom by adding to her concern, with lists of all the things their children could do that hers couldn’t. We are such a competitive culture that even our preschoolers have become trophies and bragging rights. Childhood shouldn’t be a race.

Found on kottke

Link: The First Six Doctors (minimalist version)

    <a target="_blank" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/46915979@N05/4822139106"><img src="https://mostlyrealstuff.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/4822139106_a4fda83c78.jpg" /></a>

Link: NASA’s real news: bacterium on Earth that lives off arsenic!

NASA scientists announced today an incredible find: a form of microbe that apparently evolved the ability to use otherwise toxic arsenic in their biochemistry!

First off, just to be straight and to dispel the rumors: this is not aliens on Titan, or Mars, or anywhere else. This bizarre life form was found right here on good ol’ Earth. And don’t be disappointed: this is still pretty cool news.

Read the rest of this fascinating article on http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2010/12/02/nasas-real-news-bacterium-on-earth-that-lives-off-arsenic/

Link: “We Have Not Seen Anything Yet”: Guardian Editor Says Most Startling WikiLeaks Cables Still To Be Released

“In the coming days, we are going to see some quite startling disclosures about Russia, the nature of the Russian state, and about bribery and corruption in other countries, particularly in Central Asia,” says Investigations Executive Editor David Leigh at the Guardian, one of the three newspapers given advanced access to the secret U.S. embassy cables by the whistleblower website, WikiLeaks.

Link: Has NASA discovered extraterrestrial life?

NASA will hold a news conference at 2 p.m. EST on Thursday, Dec. 2, to discuss an astrobiology finding that will impact the search for evidence of extraterrestrial life. Astrobiology is the study of the origin, evolution, distribution and future of life in the universe.

Link: Boeing to mass-produce record-breaking 39.2 percent efficiency solar cell

Boeing subsidiary Spectrolab has announced it will mass-produce a 39.2 percent efficiency solar cell

http://www.gizmag.com/boeing-to-mass-produce-world-record-efficiency-solar-cells/17028/

Link: Yes, it’s real: flamingos gather in the formation of a flamingo – The Star

via 30.media.tumblr.com

Link: Thinking like an octopus | Harvard Gazette

If you were an octopus, would you view the world from eight different points of view? Nine?

The answer may depend on how many brains an octopus has, or, to say it another way, whether the robust bunches of neurons in its coiling, writhing, incredibly handy arms bestow on each of them something akin to a brain. Is an octopus a creature ruled by a single consciousness centered in its large brain, or, by dint of its nerve-infused legs, a collaborative, cooperative, but distributed mind?

Read the rest of this story…