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Phallic-Shaped Rock Discovered in Maryland

When Martin Kenny came across what looked like a phallic carving at a site where workers had been excavating to build a new barn, he didn’t know what to make of the thing.

via LiveScience.

Niteshift: December 7, 2010

Zoo Illogical: Ugly Animals Need Protection from Extinction, Too

The surviving species will “be the ones we decide to save,” Stokes says. If zoos decide not to save “ugly” animals, they could go extinct. Snails and insects, for example, almost never make it into zoos.

via Scientific American.

Baby’s genome hidden in mother’s blood

A developing fetus’s entire genome lurks in its mother’s blood, potentially offering prospective parents a non-invasive way of testing for any congenital disease. Scientists in Hong Kong and the United States have mapped hundreds of thousands of DNA code variations spread across the genome of an unborn child in order to determine whether or not it would inherit a rare blood disorder.

via Scientific American.

Like to Sleep Around? Blame Your Genes

Whether your roommate is Samantha Sleeps-Around or Paul the Prude, cut him or her some slack: People’s predilections for promiscuity lie partially in their DNA, according to a new study.

A particular version of a dopamine receptor gene called DRD4 is linked to people’s tendency toward both infidelity and uncommitted one-night stands, the researchers reported Nov. 30 in the online open-access journal PloS One.

via Sex, Relationships and Genetics | LiveScience.

Aging Reversed in Mice: Have Scientists Found Key to Immortality?

Toss the Rogaine and Viagra? Not just yet. But Harvard scientists have found that some effects of aging, such as hair loss, infertility and decreased brain function, can be stopped. And not just stopped: the scientists’ research, published today in the journal Nature, showed that it’s possible even to reverse the signs of aging.

via CBS News.

Woman run over by her own car, twice

The woman, from the Melbourne suburb of Noble Park, was hit in her driveway Wednesday afternoon when her car rolled backward out of the driveway.

The car then crossed the road, struck a fence and bounced back, hitting the woman again.

via UPI.com.

Dutch sniff cards to help find cannabis plantations

About 30,000 Dutch households are to receive marijuana-scented scratch cards in an effort to uncover illegal urban cannabis plantations.

Authorities in Rotterdam and The Hague say they are distributing the cards to help people recognise what cannabis smells like.

via BBC News

Niteshift: November 30, 2010

Interview with Nathan Greno & Byron Howard, co-directors of Disney’s new animated feature, Tangled.

Trekkies exchange vows in Vulcan, Alberta

“It was really fun,” Olaso said of the Star Trek themed wedding, which a small number of family and friends attended.

A friend had suggested holding the wedding in Vulcan, Alta. and that seemed to make sense to the couple.

McDonald – who named their fish Tiberius, after Star Trek captain James Tiberius Kirk – has been to the last six annual Star Trek conventions held in Vulcan.

via Weird News – Canoe.ca.