Yet another terrestrial creature demonstrating wheeled locomotion - though this one may be proof of intelligent design rather than natural selection.
Thanks to boingboing.net for the link.

Seen while browsing through New Scientist’s Evolution: 24 Myths and Misconceptions; a link to video of a salamander that coils up and rolls downhill a la the mythical hoop snake or M. C. Escher’s Curl-Up.

From boingboing.net (where else?): ‘Giant, hippie-hating, cannibalistic squids attack SF Bay Area’
Granted, it is dated April 1st, and writer Xeni Jardin immediately admits that “Oh, alright, I made up the hippie-hating part”, but the rest is apparently true and rather scary.

NASA is calling for suggestions for a “catchy, easy to say” name for the Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope, otherwise known as GLAST.
The article stipulates that “Any suggestions for naming the telescope after a scientist may only include names of deceased scientists whose names are not already used for other NASA missions”, and that each [...]

Happy Cephalapodmas to all our readers!

An interesting post at physorg.com on recent work by University of Utah scientists Henry Harpending and Gregory M. Cochran, who have previously argued that the high IQs of Ashkenazi Jews can be attributed to genetic selection. Their more recent work suggests that 7 percent of human genes are undergoing rapid, recent evolution.
The quotes Cochran [...]

A couple of remarkable flying machines. At White Sands, the solar powered Zephyr has just set a new world record for unmanned continuous powered flight. And in Germany, they’ve demonstrated a 200 kph winged jetpack, the Gryphon, which can carry a pilot, oxygen, and 20kg of gear.
Now, if we could just combine these and get [...]

More pictures of weird deep-sea squid, courtesy of National Geographic, via Art Black.

An alarming squidshot: a Vampyroteuthis infernalis (vampire squid from hell) turning itself inside out.
(Thanks to Art Black, YouTube and National Geographic)

I, too, have been snapshot by Kathryn Linge.