Category: Science

Wow. I wasn’t expecting that!

A few days ago I did a post about Cy, the cyclops kitten. The post generated a few comments, but then a couple of days later–for reasons best known to Bill Gates–the search feature at MSN.com decided to list my post as the top thing in the search results for anyone who searched for "cyclops kitten."

The result was that I got SIXTY THOUSAND hits in one day. That’s like twenty times what I normally get. The next day–a slow-traffic Saturday–I got more than thirty thousand hits.

WOW. (I’m glad that TypePad isn’t charging me extra for my bandwidth overages, which are already substantial.)

In the process of getting that many hits, over a hundred comments got posted on the thread in a single day (which is probably a single-day record, but not a most-comments-ever record).

Reading the comments is fascinating, particularly because they are made by a much broader cross-section of Internet users than the folks who normally read my blog. Some individuals commenting used handles that revealed them to be Gigantic Idiots, and they got their posts swiftly unpublished. Others used rude language, but not so rude that they got unpublished.

Many of the comments were about how awsome Cy is. SAMPLES:

DUDE!!! This cat is freakin awsome…real or not. If this is a true coincidence, rock on Cy!

i think it’s kind of cool in an odd way. he’d be great in a movie.

Strange, but beautiful. I really wish he could’ve lived. Would’ve definitely been a cool cat to have.

OMG! I love him! I SOOOOOOOOO wish he would have lived… poo[r] thing though… no nose? Well anyways I think he is adorable.

i think this is the absolute cutest thing i have ever seen!! i dont
normally like cats but this one took my heart as soon as i saw it…it
really upsets me tht he died..well thts all i have to say except its
the cutest thing ive ever seen

I think Cy was adorable in his own right.. I would’ve loved him.  *kisses* to Cy.. RIP

*R.I.P Cy* i feel so bad for him and hes soo cute. Kinda looks more
of a cute little monkey than a cat. Too bad he only lived one day. I
would have wanted to take him in. Hes so adorable, but maybe its good
that he went because he would be in all of pain and misery if he lived,
because people would gape and his obnormality. I feel so bad.
If u think hes ugly, u are seriously disturbed.

Many people seemed to invest a mystical significance in Cy, speculating that God may have sent him into the world to teach us a valuable lesson and redeem us from the cynicism and lack of wonder in our society today:

Reading people’s reactions to something that strays from the "norm" just reinforces my cynisism towards the world and reminds me of the emptiness and cruelty of people. Like Chrissy says, God loves us all and all living things have a purpose. Cy’s purpose seems to have been to bring out the warmth and loving instincts in some but sadly expose the coldheartedness of most others.

for some strange reason god wanted us to see him for a reason. Everything comes in all different shapes and sizes with some deformation but this little precious was here for us to see anything is possible.

One person wondered if Cy could see his own future. (I may be reading into this comment, but I assume this was a jest based on the archetype of the blind prophet, since Cy was apparently blind.)

Even an atheist was prompted to consider whether Cy might be a product of divine intervention:

Whilst i am a strict aithiest, i have only sincere hopes that lil’ cy has gone to a better place than the earth that doomed him.

I can really appreciate what his presence has done for everyone, it
kind of broadens the perspective of life as we know it…was this
divine intervention or simply an accident? Either way, its all
positive, positive, positive. Makes you think dosent it?

Many also speculated about Cy’s eternal reward in heaven and getting to meet him there:

It really is a shame you didn’t get to amaze people once more when you
grew up, but I’m sure you’re waiting in Limbo for the Holy day when all
the worthy will be accepted into the Lord’s Kingdom. Then again, who
the heck am I to make this statement.

God bless this little baby!
He’s in heaven now having a hay day chasing all the mice he can and sleeping with angels.

my first thought was, "o my" and probably a lot of peoples first
thought was the same. god bless that little tyke and we’ll see you on
the other cy.

Many posters wondered whether this might not be a Photoshop trick–something that had occurred to me after I first saw the picture–and that started a debate between the Cy believers and the Cy unbelievers.

The argument between the Cy believers and the Cy unbelievers was eerily reminiscent of debates about religion.

Some expressed simple faith in his existence:

I believe Cy was alive, until someone proves otherwise, why dobut. Poor
thing to have so many people say some of the things they are saying
about it.

Some Cy unbelievers insulted the intelligence of the Cy believers, and some Cy believers pronounced shame upon the Cy unbelievers for their lack of faith.

Some Cy believers even argued that it doesn’t really matter if Cy is real or not because he touched all of our hearts so much.

Oh ye of little faith!

While I don’t have personal proof, the best evidence I have is that Cy is real.

First, HERE’S A FOLLOW-UP STORY FROM THE AP DETAILING THEIR RESEARCH INTO THE STORY.

Among other things the story mentions is the name of the medical condition that Cy apparently suffered from: holoprosencephaly (which loosely translated would be "whole forebrain-ism"). This is a real medical condition which occurs when the forebrain fails to divide into hemispheres, and it often results in facial deformities, particularly cyclopia and problems with the nose.

If you don’t believe me, HERE’S WHAT THE NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH HAS TO SAY:

The least severe of the facial anomalies is the median cleft lip (premaxillary agenesis). The most severe is cyclopia, an abnormality characterized by a single eye located in the area normally occupied by the root of the nose, and a missing nose or a proboscis (a tubular-shaped nose) located above the eye. The least common facial anomaly is ethmocephaly, in which a proboscis separates closely-set eyes. Cebocephaly, another facial anomaly, is characterized by a small, flattened nose with a single nostril situated below incomplete or underdeveloped closely-set eyes.

Some readers in the combox helpfully pointed to THE SNOPES.COM PAGE ON CY (Snopes.com is a site devoted to debunking or verifying urban legends), which considers the Cy story true.

Snopes also says:

Cyclopia (or synophthalmia) is a birth defect in which a normally two-eyed animal is born with only a single fused eye, generally disproportionately large and centered on the face above the area where the nose would usually appear. Typically in cyclopic births the nose is either absent or present as an appendage located above the single eye. (Eyelids are also generally absent in such births, which explains why the eye of the one-day-old kitten pictured above is open even though cats are usually born with their eyes shut and remain in that condition for the first week or two of their lives.)

Another reader posted a link to A PAGE ABOUT A CYCLOPS GOAT, WITH PICTURES OF IT FROM MULTIPLE ANGLES.

The follow-up AP story linked above mentions that Cy’s owner sent the chip from her digital camera to the AP and it contained additional photos of Cy, taken from different angles. It also had the Cy photos in sequence with other photos in a way that the AP felt would have been very hard to fake.

Another thing it mentions (and which was the original reason that I didn’t link it after the Photoshop question was first raised) is that the woman who was Cy’s owner has kept his body in her freezer in case scientists want to study it. (She has also said the will NOT sell it on eBay.)

When I first read that, I thought, "Ewww. Gross." But on further reflection, after all the furor about whether or not Cy is real, preserving his remains maybe wasn’t such a bad idea.

Gross or not, this is a note of credibility. A Photoshop hoaxer would have said "I put the body in a dumpster and it was carried off to a dump from which it can never be recovered," not "I have the remains in my freezer and am willing to donate them for scientific study."

It seems to me, unless proof to the contrary is provided, that Cy was most likely a real kitten who suffered from holoprosencephalopathy and cyclopia–just like many other creatures (including some humans) have.

God bless you, Cy, and Rock On!

READ HOW CY TOUCHED PEOPLE–AND SPARKED ARGUMENTS–IN THE ORIGINAL POST’S COMBOX.

This is a picture of the nucleus of a comet known as Wild 2.

The picture was taken by a spacecraft that we sent out to take pictures of it–AND retrieve samples of its tail.

That mission–known as Stardust–passed through Wild 2’s tail and collected samples of the particles that were blowing off the comet.

Now those samples are scheduled to be returned to Earth, when Stardust is supposed to drop its sample capsules in Utah.

I always get nervous whenever NASA tries to get samples of extraterrestrial materials down to Earth.

They’ve already established that there are loads of organic molecules in space, and we have reason to think that there may be extremeophile bacteria–including some here on Earth–that could withstand conditions in space.

Of course, tons (literally!) of space dust falls on Earth every day, but our atmosphere provides a protective shield in that a lot gets burned up and sanitized before it makes its way down here.

But that doesn’t happen if NASA puts space dust and rocks in a nice, protective capsule to shield them in the re-entry process.

I know that the odds of anything harmful getting out may be low, but still . . . it makes me nervous.

If you hear of any mysterious diseases suddenly starting in the Utah area next week, start praying really hard.

In the meantime,

GET THE STORY.

P.S. If you’ve never thought through the associated problems here, try renting and watching The Andromeda Strain in anticipation of the event.

This is a picture of Cy, short for "cyclops."

He’s a kitten that, as you can see, was born with only one eye.

He’s also really cute–in a slightly disturbing way.

What’s amazing to me is how good he looks despite his deformity. I mean, cyclops beasts don’t usually look that good in movies, much less in real life.

Unfortunately, Cy, as cute as he was, did not stay with us long. He lived only one day from his birth.

But his image touched millions via the Internet after Drudge picked up the story.

LEARN MORE ABOUT CY.

Automatic cameras have captured photos of the first new carnivore found on the island of Borneo since the Borneo Ferret-Badger was discovered over a hundred years ago.

Really!

According to Dutch biologist Stephan Wulffrat;

"We have consulted several Bornean wildlife experts. Some thought it looked like a lemur, but most were convinced it was a new species of carnivore…"

Now, biologists are discovering new species all the time. Not new like "fresh-out-of-the-box" new, but more like "previously unknown to us"-type new. New carnivores are comparatively rare, though.

What struck me is how much it resembles the dreaded Chupacabra!

GET THE STORY.

‘Member our old friend, the Asteroid Apophis?

Fortunately, it ain’t gonna hit us in 2029.

But there is a small chance it may smack into the planet in 2036–seven years later.

How small a chance?

About 1 in 5,500.

But, like, one hit by an asteroid can ruin your whole civilization.

So 1:5,500 may be too much of a risk to accept.

Some scientists certainly think so.

That’s why they’re calling for THE FIRST REAL-LIFE ASTEROID-DEFLECTION MISSION!

YEE-HAW!!!

They figger that we’ve got till 2013 (8 years from now) to decide IF we are going to mount such a mission but then, given the time needed to develop the tech (which we don’t have; we only have ideas for how to do it at this stage) and given the time needed to actually DO the mission (which could take YEARS for us to accomplish even once we have the tech–given the astronomical distances and delicate orbits involved), we really shouldn’t wait past 2013 to decide.

I’m ALL FOR THIS.

Even if it turns out Apophis has next to no risk of hitting Earth, we NEED to have asteroid-deflection technology, because if Apophis doesn’t smack into us, something else WILL–and it could be something we DON’T spot with 31 years warning! The sooner we have anti-asteroid technology in our back pocket, the better off we’ll all be.

So even though I’m not normally in favor of high-cost efforts to counter low-risk dangers, THIS ONE I’m in favor of.

I’d hate to see anything bad happen to my favorite planet!

There are a bunch of different ways to deflect asteroids. (NOTE TO SELVES: Blowing them up is NOT a good idea; you’re likely to get hit with the debris.) Sometime in the next decade, the European Space Agency (ESA) is even planning on testing the tech needed for one method:

ESA plans to test this idea with its Don Quixote mission, where two satellites will be sent to an asteroid. One of them, Hidalgo, will collide with the asteroid at high speed while the other, Sancho, will measure the change in the object’s orbit.

GET THE STORY.

MORE WAYS TO STOP ASTEROIDS.

Last Friday I got up and was getting ready for work. Just before I climbed in my pickup, I had the tune Soldier’s Joy running through my head. (This is a catchy melody that you often hear done instrumentally–such as by Willie Nelson or the Nitty-Gritty Dirt Band–it’s also present in some versions that have semi-nonsense lyrics).

I fired up my pickup and turned on the CD reader (which I had turned off during lunch of the previous day). The CD reader started reading the CD in it and then, lo and behold, the tune Soldier’s Joy starts playing.

I realized that Soldier’s Joy had been the last song I was listening to the previous day at lunch.

Now, you might think it was just a coincidence that I had Soldier’s Joy running through my head before I got in the truck and that it happened to be the last song I had been listening in my truck the previous day.

But it’s not.

This kind of thing happens to me ALL THE TIME.

It doesn’t matter what the tune is. It can be Soldier’s Joy or anything else. I just have a melody running through my mind when I’m about to get in the truck, then when I turn it on THAT song comes up on the CD player, and I realize that it was the last one I’d been listening to.

And it’s not like I’m doing this consciously. If you asked me "What was the last song you were listening to in your truck?" I would have absolutely NO IDEA.

But my subconscious knows and starts prepping me for a truck trip by calling up that melody.

What I want to know is: Is this just me or is it everybody?

So I’d like to conduct a little unscientific scientific survey. Could y’all use the combox to note whether you often, sometimes, or never have this happen to you?

Thanks! It’s for the cause of SCIENCE!

On April 13, 2029 the Earth will have a close encounter of the asteroidal kind.

The asteroid in question was initially thought to have a possibility of hitting the Earth or the Moon (a.k.a. "Luna" for those who have never lived there).

However, further observations reveal that it won’t hit either body but will snake its way between them (see image on left).

There is, however, a 1 in 5560 chance that the asteroid will smack into us exactly 17 years later, on April 13, 2036.

When it swings by in 2029 the asteroid will be big enough to see with the naked eye. If it hits in 2036 it’ll look even bigger.

The asteroid was discovered by a group of astronomers reportedly including fans of the show Stargate SG-1, which may have affected the name they gave to the asteroid: . . . Apophis.

But if these guys are really fans of Stargate, shouldn’t Asteroid Apophis instead be named Asteroid Anubis?

MORE ON ASTEROID APOPHIS.

I went to a dermatologist yesterday because I wanted to ask him about a strange itching that developed on my lower legs on a couple of occasions recently.

It first happened when I went on my roadtrip ot Arizona and New Mexico. After a few days, my ankles and calves started itching like fire, and when I scratched them it raised a red rash that drove me nuts. The problem went away entirely after a day or so back in San Diego.

Funny thing was, same exact thing happened when I went to Mexico last week, and I wanted to find out what the cause of the phenomena was and how to prevent it.

I hadn’t experienced this phenomena before, but it turns out, according to the dermatologist, that it’s a pretty normal thing.

According to him, men in particular often have problems with their lower legs itching when they are in very arid, low-humidity environments (like Arizona, New Mexico, and Mexico, f’rinstance).

The way to prevent it from happening, according to him, is simply to put lotion on your lower legs when in such areas so that the skin doesn’t dry out and start itching.

Being a guy, that’s something I’m not used to doing. Lotion and I aren’t really on speaking terms. (I wonder if that’s part of why this happens more to men than women?) But if it’ll avoid the horrible itching, I’ll give it a try.

So . . . tip to the men in the readership: Put lotion on your lower legs when going into climates more arid than you’re used to. It’s not an overly macho thing to do, but it beats acute low-humidity lower leg itching by a longshot!

This took care of the concern that brought me to his office, but since I don’t get a chance to talk to a dermatologist every day, I couldn’t resist asking him some additional skin-related questions out of curiosity.

F’rinstance: Sometimes you hear (e.g., in movies) that if you paint over your body completely and don’t leave any skin exposed that you’ll die. Is that true?

Yes!–according to my dermatologist. If you were to paint over all your skin then your body couldn’t dissipate core body temperature. You’d get a runaway fever and die.

My dermatologist mentioned something like this happening in the movie Goldfinger, though I haven’t seen that one. I have seen other movies where something like it happens (and with gold paint, too).

He also mentioned that there is a condition in which people are born with no pores or very few pores and can’t sweat. They can survive if they don’t get too hot, but if they exercise then they build up internal body heat that they can’t release and they die.

Ouch!

Unfortunately, this is a genetic condition and until we have a form of in-utero gene therapy that could detect and treat this, I don’t know if there’ll be much to do for it.

Who doesn’t?

I mean, they’re furry and slow moving and cute.

What’s not to like?

Well, maybe the fact that they have razor sharp claws and that the males can’t stand each other and will battle and scar each other with their razor sharp claws, but those are minor things.

They’re still cute!

This is something I recognized even as a child.

In fact, the VERY FIRST THING THAT I BOUGHT WITH MY OWN MONEY was a toy koala.

A local drugstore had stuffed toys, and one was a really cute koala bear. It was made of really soft animal fur (brown rabbit, I think), and it had flexible black plastic claws, and brown plastic eyes, and when I was five years old I set my heart on it.

My parents, who were encouraging me to learn the use of money, allowed me to save up for it and do chores to earn more money, and so the little toy koala was the first thing I ever bought! YEE-HAW!

I’m afraid that I’ve lost track of it now, but I’m sure it’s still at my parents’ house, tucked away in a closet, and I’ll stumble across it again someday and take it out and let the memories come back.

The memory of the toy koala itself came back when I stumbled across

THIS ARTICLE ABOUT REAL KOALAS.

Really interesting stuff!

Koalas are most unique creatures.

As many people know, they live entirely on eucalyptus leaves (y’know, those sap trees that drip sap all over your car if you park under them in California?).

Eucalyptus leaves are poisonous to almost all creatures–but not to koalas!

Except when they are.

The article doesn’t mention this, but during a certain part of the eucalyptus tree’s annual cycle, they become so toxic that even koalas can’t eat them, at which point the little critters have to fast until the poison level in the trees goes down again.

LEARN MORE ABOUT THIS FASCINATING CREATURE OF GOD.

I almost passed right over this story in a list of today’s headlines, but I thought I would check it out.
After all, "Man Bites Dog" is one thing, but "Man Kills Deer in House with Bare Hands" is another.

So I followed the link to ABC News and was interested to read that it was an Arkansas man… dateline Bentonville! This was a hometown boy!

Apparently, the deer (a buck) crashed through a window into a bedroom of the man’s house, where it proceeded to freak out, kick alot and bleed all over.
Until the man, Wayne Goldsberry, broke it’s neck.
Ugghh.

Of course, he had the right to handle it however he thought best, but I do wish he could have just shooed the animal out the back door. I’m thinking I also might have just closed the bedroom door and called animal control.

In fact, I KNOW that’s what I would do.

I wasn’t there, however, and if the deer was going nuts and doing alot of damage… well, a man might hafta crack some vertebrae. I’m just glad it wasn’t me in there with the beast. They do have antlers, and those bucks can be murderous during mating season. One of the deputies at the scene observed of Mr. Goldsberry,

"He got kicked several times. He was walking bowlegged for awhile.".

According to the article, bucks will sometimes charge at their own reflection, which is probably what happened in this case.  It’s too bad the deer had to die, though.

To make us all feel better, I have posted a Far Side cartoon of deer who are just playing dead.

GET THE STEREOTYPE-REINFORCING STORY!