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The UnMuseum Newsletter for January 2007
Science Over the Edge
A Roundup of Strange Science for the Month
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In the News:
*Fish has Really Big Bite - A new study shows that Dunkleosteus terreli, a
fish living 360 million years ago in the Late Devonian period, had a biting
power twice that of a modern great white shark. Scientists have built a
computer model of the ancient creature and have found it could generate at
least a force of 5,300 newtons at its rear dental plates. The animal, about
the length of a small bus and covered with thick armored plates could snap
its jaws shut with surprising speed: as little as a fiftieth of a second.
This probably was accompanied by a huge suction force that drew the prey
into the creature's mouth. "This bite force capability is the greatest of
all living or fossil fishes and is among the most powerful bites in
animals," according to a report by Philip Anderson of the University of
Chicago and Mark Westneat of the Field Museum of Natural History. "The only
reports of higher bite forces are those found in some extremely large
alligators and dinosaurs." The study has been published in a recent Biology
Letters from the British Royal Society.
*Seahorse Aphrodisiac - Indian scientists are trying to put together a study
to find out if seahorses are really an aphrodisiac. Eating seahorses has
been a traditional way of improving ones romantic potential in many cultures
for thousands of years. The researchers hope to be able to prove, or
disprove, the effect of the tiny animal, which has become an endangered
species. If they can show that there is no effect, they hope that the market
for seahorses will decline. If they can show an effect, they believe this
will encourage the development of seahorse hatcheries which will also remove
pressure from natural populations. It is estimated 20 million seahorses are
bought and sold around the world each year. The group is looking for a grant
of five million rupees ($111,000) to start the research.
*Scientists Nab First Film of Live Giant - A Japanese research team has
filmed a live giant squid off the Ogasawara Islands south of Tokyo. They
attempted to capture the squid, which measured about 24-feet long, but it
died while being aboard brought the research vessel. The animal was caught
using a smaller, different type of squid as bait. The scientists only
managed to pull the monster aboard their boat "after putting up quite a
fight," Tsunemi Kubodera, head of the research team, remarked. The animal, a
young female, was not large by giant squid standards. Kubodera said giant
squids have been reported to be as long as 60 feet in length. It is believed
that the scientists' film is the first ever of a live giant squid.
Photographs taken by the same team several years ago are also thought to be
first still images of a live squid.
*A Komodo Dragon and a Virgin Birth - A Komodo dragon living in the Chester
Zoo in England has become pregnant even though she has never mated or been
around a male dragon. Apparently the dragon, named Flora, fertilized all the
eggs herself. Scientists were aware that this process, parthenogenesis,
could occur in other lizards, but were unaware that the world's largest
lizards, the Komodo Dragons, were also capable of this trick of nature.
Scientists verified that there was no father by doing a set of tests on both
Flora and her eggs. "Those genetic tests confirmed absolutely that Flora was
both the mother and the father of the embryos. It completely blew us away
because it [parthenogenesis] has never been seen in such a large species,"
said Kevin Buley, a member of the Zoo's staff. ".It is nature finding a
way."
*New Robot to Explore Egyptian Pyramid - Scientists are preparing to send a
robot into the great pyramid's "air shafts" to find out what is behind two
mysterious doors. This is a follow up on an attempt in 2002 to use a robot
to explore the shafts leading from the Queen's Chamber. The original robot
found itself blocked about 65 yards into the trip by a stone wall or door
with handles. In February researchers from Egypt and Singapore and a team
from Britain and Hong Kong plan to insert the new robot inside the Pyramid
of Cheops at Giza, near to Cairo, to see if they can find out more about the
doors and the space beyond them.
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What's New at the Museum:
*The Mysterious Winchester Mansion - This spooky, rambling Californian
mansion remains a testament to one eccentric, rich woman's unearthly fears.
(http://www.unmuseum.org/winchester.htm)
*Notes from the Curator's Office: New Year's Irresolutions- Why do we put
ourselves though this excercise in frustration each year?
(http://www.unmuseum.org/notescurator/resolution.htm)
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Ask the Curator:
*Faster than the Speed of Light? - I read somewhere that they found a star
that's traveling faster than the speed of light (because of its red shift.)
Is this true? If it is, then it contradicts' Einstein's theory. - Rowell
Actually there are whole galaxies (collections of billions of stars) moving
away from us faster than the speed of light. As amazing as it sounds, this
does not really contradict Einstein's theories.
Let's start at the beginning. If you stand along a road and listen to a car
zoom by you will hear the pitch of the sound it makes suddenly drop as it
passes you. This is because the pitch of the sound is based on how many
sound waves per second reach your ear. When the car is traveling toward you,
the waves come by you faster than normal because the speed of the car is
added to their normal speed. The sound becomes lower when the car passes by
because then the speed of the car moving away increases the time it takes
each wave to pass you by. This is called the Doppler Effect.
The Doppler Effect works with sound, radio (you may have heard of Doppler
radar) and light waves. As a lighted object moves away from you the light is
pushed to a lower frequency (toward the red end of the spectrum therefore
scientists say it is "red shifted"). Using this red shift is one important
way of measuring how fast an object is moving away from us in space. The
famed astronomer, Edwin Hubble, also noticed that, in astronomical terms,
the speed an object moving away from us will also tell us how distant the
object is from us. Why? Because apparently the universe is undergoing an
expansion and had been for the last 13.7 billion years starting with the
"Big Bang." The best way to imagine this expansion is to picture a balloon
with too marks drawn on it. As the balloon inflates the marks are pushed
farther apart.
Now replace those marks with galaxies and the balloon with the universe. As
the universe expands it carries the galaxies father apart. In fact, if the
galaxies are far enough separated, they will move apart at a speed faster
than the speed of light. This can be confirmed by looking and seeing how
much a galaxy's light has been "red shifted."
Einstein's probation on faster-than-light travel isn't broken; however,
because the galaxies were not accelerated to those speeds like a rocket
ship, they are simply being carried along by the inflation of the universe.
In fact, if you were sitting in that distant galaxy it would seem to you
like you weren't moving at all (Our galaxy would seem to be the one speeding
away).
Many galaxies are in this position relative to ours. In fact, any galaxy
father away than a distance of 4,200 mega parsecs would be moving away from
us at the speed of light or faster. Eventually, over billions of years, as
these galaxies get far enough away they will first appear to freeze, then
fade, as the light from them can no longer out run the movement of their
galaxy away from us.
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In History:
*Chupacabra Flap - On the 26th of January, 1996, the New York Times took
note of the stories of Chupacabras - "goat suckers" coming from Latin
America. For several years reports of strange gargoyle-like creatures that
attacked livestock had been appearing in places like Puerto Rico, Mexico and
parts of the Caribbean. No credible pictures or evidence of the animal was
ever brought forth and the Chupacabra "flap" ended by the middle of that
year. Since then stories featuring the animal have emerged sporadically, but
most researchers think the beast is made more of the human imagination than
flesh and blood.
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In the Sky:
*Pleiades Star Cluster - Around January 17th take a look almost straight up
in the sky about three hours after sunset (North America, Northern Europe
and Northern Asia) to see the Pleiades star cluster (also known as the Seven
Sisters) at its highest point in the sky. The Pleiades is called an open
star cluster and is probably the closest of these to Earth and certainly the
most striking to view.
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Observed:
*UFO Turns Out to Be Christmas Light - A disc-like UFO seen skimming through
the skies of Swindom, England, turned out to be Christmas party lights.
According to the Swindon Advertiser, Swindon residents have been reporting a
bright, silvery object scooting over the town. However, Simon Maddison, the
director of Planet Pursuits, a company that manages party events, says that
the object is actually a very powerful spotlight that has been used to
direct visitors to Christmas activities at the local Steam Museum. "We were
holding a theme party for 20 days in this workshop and had a light outside
that radiates a massive beam," Maddison said. "That's what people thought
the UFO was. I saw the report in the paper and thought it was quite funny -
that's our light' I thought." He continued, "I'm not surprised people
thought it was a UFO, it emits 10 different beams and moves across the sky."
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On the Tube:
Currently we are only able to give accurate times and dates for these
programs in the United States. Check local listings in other locations.
*NOVA: The Mummy Who Would be King - Could a mummy exhibited for 140 years
at an obscure museum in Niagara Falls be the remains of a long-lost Egyptian
pharaoh? On PBS: January 2 at 8 pm; ET/PT
*Dive to Bermuda Triangle - The mystery of the Bermuda Triangle has spawned
theories from aliens to time warps. Hundreds of boats and planes have
disappeared without a trace. Most of these can be explained, but a few still
remain a genuine mystery. On The Science Channel: JAN 04 2007 @ 09:00 PM JAN
05 2007 @ 12:00 AM JAN 05 2007 @ 04:00 AM JAN 05 2007 @ 10:00 AM JAN 06 2007
@ 01:00 PM JAN 18 2007 @ 02:00 PM JAN 18 2007 @ 05:00 PM; ET/PT.
*Hitler's Last Deadly Secret: The Hunt For U-864 - Deep in the icy waters
off of Norway lies one of the last great secrets of the Second World War. In
February 1945, the German submarine U-864 disappeared without trace during
its clandestine journey to Japan. On The Science Channel: JAN 18 2007 @
10:00 PM JAN 19 2007 @ 01:00 AM JAN 19 2007 @ 05:00 AM JAN 19 2007 @ 11:00
AM JAN 20 2007 @ 02:00 PM ET/PT.
*Supervolcano - Amidst the stunning wilderness of America's most famous
National Park, steam and hot water bubble and hiss from thousands of
colorful, mineral-encrusted springs and vents. These geothermal phenomena
make Yellowstone a time-bomb that could spell disaster. On The Science
Channel: JAN 25 2007 @ 08:00 PM JAN 25 2007 @ 11:00 PM JAN 26 2007 @ 03:00
AM JAN 26 2007 @ 09:00 AM JAN 27 2007 @ 12:00 PM, ET/PT.
*MythBusters: Pirate Special - Arggghhh me hearties. Jamie and Adam have
plundered the seven seas in search of pirate parables and maritime myths and
the result is this 2-hour spectacular. And with four stories of hi-jinks on
the high seas the action is thick and fast. On the Discovery Channel: JAN 17
2007 @ 09:00 PM JAN 18 2007 @ 01:00 AM JAN 20 2007 @ 08:00 PM JAN 21 2007 @
12:00 AM;
*Big Science: Giant Squid - Caught on Camera - The first photographs ever of
the giant squid - one of the world's largest and most mysterious sea
creatures. On The Discovery Channel: JAN 13 2007 @ 08:00 PM JAN 14 2007 @
12:00 AM; ET/PT.
*Strange Egypt - We all know the Egypt of the pyramids and King Tut's tomb.
But there's much, much more. The daily life of ancient Egyptians was filled
with magic, mystery, and sex. We'll take a closer look at the beliefs and
habits of one of the world's oldest cultures. There was incest in the royal
palace, divine cats, and an entire industry devoted to ushering the dead
into the next world. Spells, potions, and incantations ruled every aspect of
life. Yet even in these unusual customs, we'll find the human face of the
ancient people of Egypt. On History Channel: Sunday, January 07 09:00 PM
Monday, January 08 01:00 AM ET/PT.
*The Pacific Bermuda Triangle. - While the Bermuda Triangle is a well-known
area of strange phenomenon in the Atlantic, there is another, more
treacherous triangle in the Pacific off the coast of Japan known as the
"Dragon's Triangle". This dangerous ocean triangle has reportedly claimed
hundreds if not thousands of ships, airplanes, and submarines since the
first written reports in the 13th century. Could these lost vessels be the
result of bad oceanic conditions or possibly something more mysterious?
We'll get to the bottom of this unsolved world mystery. Interviews include
Dr. Joann Stock, Caltech; Joseph Nagy, UCLA; Takuji Wasda, University of
Tokyo; and Japanese UFO experts Junichiro Nirasawa and Junichi Yaoi. On
History Channel: Tuesday, January 02 08:00 PM Wednesday, January 03 12:00 AM
Sunday, January 14 09:00 AM ET/PT.
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