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Scientists are only now starting to recognise the astonishing size reached by pterosaurs, the flying reptiles that lived at the time of the dinosaurs.

New discoveries in the Americas suggest some had wingspans of 18m (60ft).

But there was nothing ugly about the way they moved through the air, according to expert Dr David Martill, of the University of Portsmouth.

Their ability to utilise air currents, thermals and ground effects would astonish aeroplane designers, he said.

[Full Article]

A gross creature which gobbles up a fish’s tongue and then replaces it with its own body has been found in Britain for the first time.

The bug - which has the scientific name cymothoa exigua - was discovered inside the mouth of a red snapper bought from a London fishmonger.

The 3.5cm creature had grabbed onto the fish’s tongue and slowly ate away at it until only a stub was left.

It then latched onto the stub and became the fish’s “replacement tongue”.

[Full Article]

This is really, really old news, but it was brought up in a recent conversation and I thought it was rather interesting. Following the Indonesian earthquake last December (has it been that long?), scientists have determined that the massive tsunami which was generated actually changed the rotation of the Earth and shortened the day. As reported by NASA,

They also found the earthquake decreased the length of day by 2.68 microseconds. Physically this is like a spinning skater drawing arms closer to the body resulting in a faster spin.

…

The researchers concluded the Sumatra earthquake caused a length of day change too small to detect, but it can be calculated. It also caused an oblateness change barely detectable, and a pole shift large enough to be possibly identified. They hope to detect the length of day signal and pole shift when Earth rotation data from ground based and space-borne position sensors are reviewed.

In more recent news, according to Wired, scientist have determined that the Earth’s core is spinning faster than the crust.

The giant iron ball at the center of the Earth appears to be spinning a bit faster than the rest of the planet.

The solid core that measures about 1,500 miles in diameter is spinning about one-quarter to one-half degree faster, per year, than the rest of the world, scientists from Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign report in Friday’s issue of the journal Science.

[thanks Paul]

Malaysia has announced their intent to send an astronaut to the moon by 2020.

But such dreams were almost immediately called into question when the first batch of would-be space explorers struggled with a simple fitness test.

…

On Saturday, the first group from a shortlist of more than 800 would-be astronauts set out to run 3.5km (two miles) in a leisurely 20 minutes.

All were hoping to claim Malaysia’s seat on a Russian-led space mission, scheduled for 2007.

But only 12 out of 31 taking part passed the test.

Let’s see, by 2020 they should be able to at least fake their own moon landing…

[via The BBC]

A 400 foot waterfall in the Whiskeytown National Recreation Area in northern California, first believed to have been discovered in the 1950s, was recently “rediscovered” by Park Ranger Russ Weatherbee.

“There’s a local mining community with people whose families have been there literally through the gold rush era, and I’d been hearing these rumors that there was a big waterfall in Crystal Creek somewhere,” Weatherbee said.

…

Weatherbee discovered a park map dating from the early 1960s that marked the location of a remote waterfall some 15 miles (24 kilometers) from where the park’s headquarters now stand.

“So I went and hiked up that section that the dot [on the map] was on,” he said. “However, there was nothing there.”

Undeterred, Weatherbee returned to park headquarters and continued his search. A few weeks later, he began scanning aerial photos of the 42,500-acre (17,200-hectare) park. In one picture, he saw a white strip running over steep terrain, some two-thirds of a mile (1 kilometer) from where the map had incorrectly placed the falls.

How does one misplace a 400 foot waterfall? Now let’s be honest. The real reason he was scouting the area was to locate new locations to hide marijuna farms. After discovering an ideal location that was “at such an angle that you’d have a hard time stopping if you started to slip or fall” he was able to use the falls as an excuse and con the Park Service to start “blazing a two-mile (three-kilometer) trail to Whiskeytown Falls from an existing hiking trail” for easier access. Twisted.

[via National Geographic]

According to psychologist Dr. Lenny Kristal, who performed a study for Yahoo Personals, at least one in four women wants sex everyday.

The figure of 27 per cent is up from the 18 per cent who fancied daily romps in 1993.

Handily, almost the same number of men, 31 per cent, think the same - unchanged from the 90s.

…

Yahoo’s Deborah Uri added: “There’s a rising sexual confidence among women of all ages.”

[via Mirror]

And sometimes even four times. Carl Mize of Oklahoma was struck by lightning during an August 5th storm, however, being the fourth time he’s been struck, the incident was nothing new to him.

He was working with a crew on the University of Oklahoma campus, when they saw storms approaching. A co-worker familiar with his history retreated, saying “I’m getting away from you.” The bolt struck soon after that.

Amazingly, Carl’s fourth strike is nothing compared to Roy Sullivan who suffered an astonishing seven strikes in his life. Unfortunately, not everyone is as lucky.

[via AP]

I didn’t hear it, but around 5:12a this morning the space shuttle Discovery made a safe return to Earth; flying several times the speed of sound it passed over California, just north of Los Angeles, to finally settle at Edwards Airforce Base.

“It’s been four years’ training for the STS-114 [shuttle] mission and this is a wonderful moment for all of us to experience,” said Discovery’s commander Eileen Collins standing next to the shuttle on the runway, “We met the test objectives of the space shuttle programme and brought Discovery back in great shape.”

[via The BBC]

On a slightly related note, in the wake of the massive tsunami that hit last December, Indian Ocean countries have agreed to set up a network of seabed sensors and buoys as part of an early warning system for tsunamis.

[via The BBC]

Hurricane caused ‘tallest wave’

Hurricane Ivan generated a wave more than 90 feet (27 metres) high - thought to be the tallest and most intense ever measured - scientists have revealed.

It would have dwarfed a 10-storey building and had the power to snap a ship in half - but never reached land.

The wave was recorded by sensors on the ocean floor as Hurricane Ivan passed over the Gulf of Mexico last September.

[Full Article]