The End Is Near...

Government recognizes end is officially near

2008-12-02T05:48:00.001-08:00

WASHINGTON (AP) — A bipartisan commission is asserting the country should expect a terrorist attack using nuclear or biological weapons sometime in the next five years.

The report, which is scheduled to be publicly released on Wednesday, suggests that the incoming administration of President-elect Barack Obama should improve the capability of the United States to counter such an attack and to prepare if necessary for germ warfare.

The report was written by the Commission on the Prevention of WMD Proliferation and Terrorism. Among other things, it concluded: "Our margin of safety is shrinking, not growing."

The commission also is encouraging the new White House to appoint a National Security Council official to exclusively coordinate U.S. intelligence and foreign policy on combating the spread of nuclear and biological weapons.

Article

Deep Impact starring Bruce Willis

2008-10-06T12:23:00.000-07:00

Spaceweather.com is reporting that asteroid 2008 TC3 is going to impact Earth on October 7th, 2008.

For more information, check out these science links, but only if you're a huge nerd like me:

http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/mpec/K08/K08T50.html

http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=2008%20TC3;orb=1

LHC updates

2008-10-06T08:22:00.000-07:00

Well, it looks like the world hasn't ended. The Large Hadron Collider was switched on September 10th, 2008. We didn't die.

Then, it was hacked. We didn't die.

We're playing with fire, people. How many mistakes can we make before the Earth is swallowed in a black hole?

The giant computing grid was launched today. When was the last time I saw a description of a giant computing grid that went across the world?

Oh wait...

Giant Inflatable Shit Wreaks Havoc

2008-08-15T12:00:00.001-07:00

A giant inflatable dog turd brought down a power line after being blown away from a Swiss museum.

The artwork, entitled Complex Shit, was carried 200 metres on the night of 31 July, reportedly breaking a greenhouse window before it landed again.

The sculpture, by American artist Paul McCarthy, was equipped with a safety system that should have deflated it.

The fake faeces has been returned and will remain on display at the Zentrum Paul Klee in Bern until October.

McCarthy is well known for his inflatable artworks, two of which - Blockhead and Daddies Bighead - were displayed outside the Tate Modern in London in 2003.

The Zentrum Paul Klee, which opened in 2005, houses a collection of about 4,000 works by the noted Swiss painter.

Full Article Here

The Dead Zone

2008-08-15T12:00:00.000-07:00

Science News is reporting that the number of coastal "dead zones," marine areas with so little oxygen that they can barely support life, is on the rise.

Here's an image of the worst hit areas of the United States:

And here's what we're going to look like when the shit hits the fan:

Robots with biological brains

2008-08-14T12:31:00.000-07:00

University of Reading scientists have developed a robot controlled by a biological brain formed from cultured neurons.

Let me be the first to say "Bad idea."

Don't all robot apocalypses start when the robots finally realize that they're slaves to their human overlords? Giving them a biological brain, capable of developing emotions such as hatred, is the first step to our eventual annihilation.

"The robot’s biological brain is made up of cultured neurons which are placed onto a multi electrode array (MEA). The MEA is a dish with approximately 60 electrodes which pick up the electrical signals generated by the cells. This is then used to drive the movement of the robot. Every time the robot nears an object, signals are directed to stimulate the brain by means of the electrodes. In response, the brain’s output is used to drive the wheels of the robot, left and right, so that it moves around in an attempt to avoid hitting objects. The robot has no additional control from a human or a computer, its sole means of control is from its own brain."

Wait, they can fucking drive now? Holy shit. Every Pakistani in New York just became unemployed.

New Strain of Bird Flu "Likely to Cause Pandemic"

2008-08-14T08:45:00.001-07:00

Associated Free Press is reporting that US researchers are trying to raise awareness about how easily the current strain of Avian flu could mutate into an easily transmittable virus by humans.

Pandemic inc!

Cold War 2: Colder War

2008-08-14T08:37:00.000-07:00

Well, it appears that Russia has said, "Fuck you lol" to the United States and Georgia, and they won't be leaving anytime soon.

I'm sure the United States is in a wonderful position to take on the Russian giant. Can't we just decide this in a boxing match?

Measles outbreak in Minnesota, related to retards

2008-08-07T08:21:00.000-07:00

The Star Tribune is reporting a measles outbreak in Minnesota.

And as expected, it was the result of people not trusting "big science," thinking that the vaccine is going to make their kids retarded.

You know what's retarded? Contracting measles by being a moron.

World to end "any day now"

2008-08-07T08:16:00.000-07:00

Scientists are planning to turn on the large hadron collider any day now, so if you suddenly notice the universe around you collapsing into a black hole, then shit went wrong.

Cyborg monkeys will kill us all

2008-05-28T13:24:00.000-07:00

New Species Of Infectious Disease Found In Amazon

2008-04-09T07:04:00.000-07:00

While investigating the tropical disease leptospirosis in the Peruvian Amazon, an infectious disease specialist from the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine has uncovered new, emerging bacteria that may be responsible for up to 40 percent of cases of the disease. Patients with severe forms of leptospirosis have jaundice, renal failure and lung hemorrhage, with high fatality rates.

Joseph Vinetz, M.D., professor of medicine in UC San Diego’s Division of Infectious Diseases – working in collaboration with colleagues from Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia in Lima, Peru, and others – headed the study that led to discovery of the new species in the family of pathogens, Leptospira, which is spread from animals to humans.

Leptospirosis is a severe, water-borne disease transmitted from animals to humans, with tens of millions of human cases worldwide each year. Fatality rates can range as high as 20 to 25 percent in some regions, and it is particularly prevalent in tropical countries where poor people live under highly crowded condition, or in rural areas where people are exposed to water contaminated by the urine of Leptospira-infected animals such as rats.

The new species reflects Amazonian biodiversity, according to Vinetz, and the pathogen has apparently evolved to become an important cause of leptospirosis in the Peruvian Amazon region of Iquitos. There, Vinetz leads an international team of physicians from the U.S. and Peru in an NIH-funded training program studying malaria, leptospirosis and other infectious diseases that impact disadvantaged populations in developing countries.

The researchers found that the new species, Leptospira licerasiae – cultured from a very small number of patients, as well as eight rats – is significantly different from other forms of the bacteria at a genomic level and has novel biological features.

“This strain has fundamentally different characteristics,” said Vinetz, adding that the next step is to sequence its genome. “We think that hundreds of patients are infected with this pathogen, which is so unique that antibodies for the disease don’t react to the regular tests for leptospirosis.”

In testing 881 patients in a prospective clinical study of fever, the researchers found that 41 percent of them had antibodies that reacted only to this new strain of the bacteria, showing a much higher incidence of leptospirosis than previously suspected.

“This observation is relevant to other regions of the world where leptospirosis is likely to be common, because it’s necessary to identify the right strain of the Lepstospira in order to make the correct diagnosis,” Vinetz said.

Since isolation of the new Leptospira in people was rare despite the high prevalence of antibodies to this strain of the bacteria in the Amazonian population, Vinetz theorizes that the individuals with positive cultures may have a previously undiscovered immune system defect, making them more susceptible to the disease.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080401225633.htm

Lawsuit filed to stop CERN

2008-04-09T06:44:00.000-07:00

Switzerland has a long legacy of peaceful neutrality, but two men claim that Swiss scientists are building a device that could destroy the universe.

Walter Wagner, a former radiation safety officer for the Veterans Administration who studied physics at University of California–Berkeley, and Luis Sancho, a self-professed time-theory researcher, have filed suit to halt construction on the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) until their safety concerns are satisfied. The U of C’s Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab) is one of the defendants in the lawsuit.

The Geneva-based LHC will become the world’s largest and highest-energy particle accelerator when unveiled this summer under the auspices of the European Center for Nuclear Research (CERN). The $8-billion endeavor is an international collaborative effort involving scientists from dozens of countries and universities.

The collider will raise protons to energies approaching seven trillion electron volts before slamming them together in an attempt to produce the Higgs boson and other elementary particles that would help move scientists closer to a Grand Unified Theory of physics.

But Wagner and Sancho claim that these experiments will produce dangerous materials as well. One such possibility they suggest is the creation of strangelets, altered subatomic particles that would change the earth into a dense mass of exotic “strange matter.”

They also said that the creation of mini black holes inside the accelerator could grow to consume the earth or even our entire universe.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Hawaii, also charges CERN with failing to file an environmental impact statement as required by the U.S.’s National Environmental Policy Act.

That doesn't sound too painful

Giant rats set to invade civilization

2007-12-18T10:25:00.000-08:00

Researchers from Conservation International and the Indonesia Institute of Science had previously discovered several new species of plants and animals during a trip to the pristine rain forest region in 2005.

When the team returned to the Fojas this summer, they found the rat along with a pygmy possum that could also be a previously unrecorded species.

"The giant rat is about five times the size of a typical city rat," Kristofer Helgen, a scientist with the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., said in a press statement. "With no fear of humans, it apparently came into the camp several times during the trip."

We're screwed

Common Cold Kills

2007-11-16T07:23:00.000-08:00

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A new and virulent strain of adenovirus, which frequently causes the common cold, killed 10 people in parts of the United States earlier this year and put dozens into hospitals, U.S. health officials said on Thursday.

A U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report detailed cases of people ill in May of 2006 and from March to June of 2007 with a strain of the virus called adenovirus 14 in New York, Oregon, Washington state and Texas.

"Whether you're a healthy young adult, an infant or an elderly person, this virus can cause severe respiratory disease at any age," said John Su, who investigates infectious diseases for the CDC and contributed to the report.

"What makes this particular adenovirus a little different is that it has the capability of making healthy young adults severely ill. And that's unusual for an adenovirus, and that's why it's got our attention," Su said in a telephone interview.

Full article here

NCSU scientists are trying to blow up the planet

2007-11-08T07:31:00.000-08:00

Raleigh (NC) - Scientists recently announced they have fired the most powerful antimatter beam ever created. Comprised of positrons (antimatter electrons) emitted from a large plate and focused into a beam, the emission strength exceeds the previous record held by a laboratory in Munich, Germany.

Sounds great, right? And then I read this portion of the article...

Since this project has now created a successful, powerful antimatter beam, physicsts are looking to turn their attention to practical applications. Dr. Ayman Hawari, associate professor of nuclear engineering and director of the Nuclear Reactor Program at NC State, told ncsu.edu's Dave Pond, "The idea here is that if we create this intense beam of antimatter electrons ... we can then use them in investigating and understanding the new types of materials being used in many applications."

Holy fucking shit we are screwed. All we need is one scientist to go off the radar and wind up in Syria to end it all. Using an antimatter death beam is only the number one method to destroy the planet.

Israel set to start nuking within a year

2007-11-08T07:23:00.000-08:00

A claim by President Ahmadinejad that Iran has 3,000 working uranium-enriching centrifuges sent a tremor across the world yesterday amid fears that Israel would respond by bombing the country’s nuclear facilities.

Military sources in Washington said that the existence of such a large number could be a “tipping point”, triggering an Israeli air strike. The Pentagon is reluctant to take military action against Iran, but officials say that Israel is a “different matter”. Amid the international uproar, British MPs who were to have toured the nuclear facility were backing out of their Iran trip.

Even before President Ahmadinejad’s announcement, a US defence official told The Times yesterday: “Israel could do something when they get to around 3,000 working centrifuges. The Pentagon is minded to wait a little longer.” US experts say 3,000 machines running for long periods could make enough enriched uranium for an atomic bomb within a year.

It's the beginning of the end, folks. I guess Israel doesn't believe in M.A.D., or they don't care.

Full article available here.

The master race will soon be upon us

2007-11-05T11:01:00.001-08:00

Scientists have been astounded by the creation of a genetically modified "supermouse" with extraordinary physical abilities – comparable to the performance of the very best athletes – raising the prospect that the discovery may one day be used to transform people's capacities.

The mouse can run up to six kilometres (3.7 miles) at a speed of 20 metres per minute for five hours or more without stopping. Scientists said that this was equivalent of a man cycling at speed up an Alpine mountain without a break. Although it eats up to 60 per cent more food than an ordinary mouse, the modified mouse does not put on weight. It also lives longer and enjoys an active sex life well into old age – being capable of breeding at three times the normal maximum age.

American scientists who created the mice – they now have a breeding colony of 500 – said that they were stunned by their abilities, especially given that the animals came about as a result of a standard genetic modification to a single metabolism gene shared with humans.

Full story here

Amerca's Patient Zero?

2007-10-31T06:43:00.000-07:00

Geneticists have traced the arrival of AIDS in America to a single person who came from Haiti in 1969.

In an article published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, University of Arizona researchers analyzed archived blood samples from the first five U.S. AIDS patients. All were recent Haitian immigrants. The geneticists then looked at genetic sequences from another 117 people with HIV subtype B, the most common strain of the virus.

After assembling the sequences, the researchers modeled the probability of various HIV family trees. Did the virus go from Africa to the United States? The chance of that, they found, was just .003 percent. Did it go from Africa to Haiti and then to the U.S.? The chance of that was 99.8 percent -- within the scope of the model, a near certainty.

They found that Haiti, which contains more HIV strains than any other country, likely served as a breeding ground for the disease between 1966 and 1969, at which point a single person carried it to the United States. From there, the rest is tragic history.

Full Story Here

OH SHI-

2007-10-24T08:02:00.000-07:00

"The heaven shall burn at five and forty degrees, the fire shall come near the great new city... when they shall make a trial of the Normans" (Century 6:97) Nostradamus

San Diego is going down.

Appropriate theme song for this image?

2007-10-19T10:39:00.000-07:00

The winner is here:

Just play that while looking at the image.

Skynet has become self-aware

2007-10-19T08:15:00.000-07:00

The National Defence Force is probing whether a software glitch led to an antiaircraft cannon malfunction that killed nine soldiers and seriously injured 14 others during a shooting exercise on Friday.

SA National Defence Force spokesman brigadier general Kwena Mangope says the cause of the malfunction is not yet known and will be determined by a Board of Inquiry. The police are conducting a separate investigation into the incident.

Full article here

Drug-Resistant Staph Germ's Toll Is Higher Than Thought

2007-10-17T09:29:00.000-07:00

A dangerous germ that has been spreading around the country causes more life-threatening infections than public health authorities had thought and is killing more people in the United States each year than the AIDS virus, federal health officials reported yesterday.

The microbe, a strain of a once innocuous staph bacterium that has become invulnerable to first-line antibiotics, is responsible for more than 94,000 serious infections and nearly 19,000 deaths each year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention calculated.

Although mounting evidence shows that the infection is becoming more common, the estimate published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association is the first national assessment of the toll from the insidious pathogen, officials said.

"This is a significant public health problem. We should be very worried," said Scott K. Fridkin, a medical epidemiologist at the CDC.

It's official, we're dead.

Full article here

West Nile Virus spreads to Illinois

2007-07-19T05:21:00.000-07:00

The Illinois Department of Public Health announced Wednesday the third case of West Nile virus in Illinois in 2007 has been discovered.

A Madison County man in his 60s, who reportedly traveled within Illinois and other states during his incubation period, has been diagnosed with West Nile neuroinvasive disease.

Neuroinvasive disease is the most severe form of the West Nile virus and affects a person’s nervous system, according to a release from the Illinois Department of Public Health.

Cook, DuPage and Tazewell counties have all found mosquitoes that tested positive for the virus. The first human case for 2007 was reported in DuPage County on June 15, the release said.

Last year, 77 of Illinois’ 102 counties had a bird, mosquito, horse or human case of the West Nile virus. In Illinois, 215 people contracted the disease, which led to 10 deaths, the release said.

The West Nile virus is transmitted through the bite of a mosquito that has picked up the virus by feeding on an infected bird. Most people with the virus have no clinical symptoms of illness, but some may become ill three to 14 days after the bite, the release said

Full Article here

West Nile Virus invades California

2007-07-13T07:41:00.000-07:00

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Residents of Cambrian Park were alerted Thursday of increased West Nile virus activity in their neighborhood, according to the County of Santa Clara Vector Control District.

The district mailed more than 4,400 postcards to residents Thursday, saying that four WNV-positive birds were found in the area within the past two weeks.

The area of concern includes residents within a one-mile radius of where the birds were found.

In addition to offering WNV precautionary tips, the postcards also ask residents to alert the district of any possible mosquito sources in the neighborhood.

“It is very important that the residents in these areas know how to protect themselves and their families,” said District Manager Tim Mulligan. “Even though the virus could be anywhere in the county, all signs are pointing to the fact that this area may have the greatest potential for infected mosquitoes at this time.”

The area includes parts of San Jose in the 95124 ZIP code, as well as a small section of northern Los Gatos.

Full Article here

Jesus is back, and he's governor.

2006-11-07T23:37:00.000-08:00

I guess this means the Rapture is here...

Scientists are trying to wipe out humanity

2006-11-06T01:10:00.000-08:00

ScienceNOW Daily News Writes:

In a controversial study, researchers have resurrected a retrovirus that infected our ancestors millions of years ago and now sits frozen in the human genome.

Maybe it's paranoia talking, but this seems to be one published article away from one of the following three headlines:

RETROVIRUS STOLEN BY TERRORISTS

or maybe

RETROVIRUS LEAKED; PHARMACEUTICAL CURE ON THE WAY SAYS GLAXOSMITHKLINE

or even

ENTIRE WORLD POPULATION DEAD; PRESIDENT TO MOURN AT 6PM

Full story here.

Rabid Bats have invaded Indiana

2006-11-06T01:02:00.000-08:00

In what could best be described as Alfred Hitchcocks' "The Birds" meets.... bats, a girl was killed when she was bitten by a rabid bat. Since when did bats attack people anyway? Indiana's first bat death (?!) in 50 years, and certaintly not to be the last. Look for more bat on human attacks and a FOX special to come soon.

Full story here.

Latest Bird Flu Raises Alarm

2006-10-31T23:21:00.000-08:00

Full story here

Scientists have discovered a new variant of the deadly avian influenza virus that is resistant to vaccines and is spreading, raising potential concerns for Delaware's poultry industry.

The new strain, known as H5N1 Fujian-like, is spreading among poultry and humans in Southeast Asian countries including China and Hong Kong, Laos, Malaysia and Thailand. In a study expected to published today, researchers said the strain may have developed resistance to vaccines following extensive poultry vaccination programs to fight the disease in the region.

North Korea prepping for 2nd Nuclear test

2006-10-17T21:22:00.000-07:00

Here it comes...

Satellite images indicate North Korea appears to be getting ready for a second nuclear test, officials said Tuesday, as the defiant communist regime held huge rallies and proclaimed that U.N. sanctions amount to a declaration of war.

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=2580235

As Mack, from Predator 2, so eloquently stated, "We're all gonna die."

North Korea is going to nuke us

2006-10-03T07:18:00.000-07:00

From CNN.com:

North Korea, citing American belligerence and pressure, said Tuesday it will conduct a nuclear test.

Strange.. The one country who announces they will be firing nuclear weapons very soon and really doesn't like us is on the complete opposite side of the world from the one we have occupied with our military.

Remember what to do kids, now tell me right out loud. What do you do when you see the flash?

Duck... and cover!

U.S. is not protected from Anthrax for the next year

2006-10-02T06:49:00.000-07:00

Wired News reported today that the biotech company who was awarded the near $1 billion contract by the U.S. Health Department was "plagued with misfortune and delays" (oh the puns...) and will not be developing an effective defense against a bio-terrorist attack on U.S. soil until at least 2008. Which means, I surmise, that we will all die from anthrax poisoning sometime in 2007.

Read the full article here.

The Eighth of Ten

2006-09-28T13:23:00.000-07:00

As if proof that MTV's Spring Break is a breeding ground of sin, a plague of locusts descended upon Mexico's Cancun Resort.

The Reuter's article referred to Mexico's battle against this menace as a "crusade" and one woman was quoted as saying, "We hope that God will take pity on us and help us."

China lops decades off Earth's lifetime

2006-09-28T11:27:00.000-07:00

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/asia/article1768827.ece

The explosive growth of the Chinese economy over the past seven years has been linked with a rise in emissions of man-made methane, a study has found. Methane is the second most important greenhouse gas and, molecule for molecule, it is about 20 times as potent as carbon dioxide in its ability to exacerbate global warming.

I'm sure that megacorporations support the industry, considering a large majority of their manufactured goods come from China. Does this mean we can blame Wal-Mart for the death of humanity now?

CERN will destroy us all...

2006-09-28T10:35:00.000-07:00

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/14923900/

Scientists could generate a black hole as often as every second when the world's most powerful particle accelerator comes online in 2007. This potential "black hole factory" has raised fears that a stray black hole could devour our planet whole. The Lifeboat Foundation, a nonprofit organization devoted to safeguarding humanity from what it considers threats to our existence, has stated that artificial black holes could "threaten all life on Earth" and so it proposes to set up "self-sustaining colonies elsewhere." But the chance of planetary annihilation by this means "is totally miniscule," experimental physicist Greg Landsberg at Brown University in Providence, R.I., told LiveScience.

Totally miniscule... that's still greater than zero.

I fear for our lives.