Because the price of zinc has shot up, the cost of production of a penny has risen above the coin's value.

Rep. Jim Kolbe (R-Arizona) is planning to introduce legislation to eliminate penny from the US currency altogether.

The issue "used to be an oddball thing that Kolbe had an obsession about," the congressman said of himself. "Now it will become a necessity. We'll be compelled to change."

The cost of producing the coin has risen from .97 cent per penny in 2005 to 1.4 cent per penny. At that rate, the Mint would spend some $44 million producing pennies this year, nearly $14 million more than in 2005.

"When the price goes to 1.5 cents per cent then everybody will figure it out," said Kolbe. "Then everyone will hoard their pennies because the metal will be worth more than the coin." Kolbe, who is set to retire from Congress after this term, joked he should go into the business of buying people's pennies to sell them for their value.

Link - Thanks Jason!

Godfrey Louis of Mahatma Gandhi University has isolated a strange, thick-walled, red-tinted cell-like structures from a mysterious blood-colored showers that fell in Kerala, India in 2001.

Godfrey, a solid-state physicists, speculates that these cells may be alien bacteria that hitched a ride with a comet broke apart in the upper atmosphere and then mixed with rain clouds.

http://www.popsci.com/popsci/science/2c21c0f98d07b010vgnvcm1000004eecbccdrcrd.html - Thanks David R!

Geologist Steven Dutch of the University of Wisconsin used geological data to predict what will happen to Earth over the next million years.

His verdict? The same as the last million years : more volcanoes, earthquakes, floods, and other natural disasters!

Even without major catastrophes, gradual geological change will dramatically alter many landscapes. ...

In California the temperamental San Andreas fault will set off about 7,000 earthquakes of magnitude eight in the next million years, offsetting the geography of San Francisco more than 15 miles. That will split the San Francisco Peninsula into a fork.

Over the same million years the Hawaiian Islands will have moved about 60 miles northwest, Dutch said. The deep undersea volcano called Loihi, to the southwest of the island of Hawaii, will have grown into a new island rivaling today’s Mauna Loa volcano.

Link - Thanks Jason!

Italian naval architect Giancarlo Zema dreamed big - really big when he designed a part yacht part submarine house called Trilobis 65:

At first glance, the Trilobis looks as if it would be more at home soaring into the sky than plying the waters of atolls, bays and maritime parks. Looking at a computer image of the bow conjures up visions of the flying saucers in 1950s science fiction films. The Trilobis's blueprints, however, reveal a nautical heritage that reaches back to the humble dugout while simultaneously embracing 21st century technologies that include high-strength composites and nonpolluting hydrogen fuels.

Jules Verne would be proud!

http://www.sub-find.com/trilobis65.htm

Bernie DeKoven of Deep Fun invented a game called Roll-Over:

Roll-Over is a variation of a number of Numbers games, like Big Booty, The Prince of Wales and Who Stole the Cookie from the Cookie Jar

It is one of those deceptively simple games that is as fun to modify as it is to play ...

Link

I had to look up orrery: it is a mechanical device that depics the planets in our solar system - some orreries have very complex gear systems and are finished with gold and other precious stones.

They are fantastic, and definitely worth a look see: Link

Tintin will be the first comic character to be awarded the Truth of Light award by the Dalai Lama, for making a significant contribution to the public's understanding of Tibet.

In the story, the young intrepid reporter Tintin and his companions, the blustering Captain Haddock and faithful dog, Snowy, go in search of Tintin’s Chinese friend, Chang, in the Tibetan mountains. “When I read it as a boy, I failed to appreciate the irony of Tintin desperately searching for his Chinese friend,” van Melick said.

Chinese forces invaded Tibet in 1959, forcing Tibet’s spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, to flee to safety in India, where he set up a Government in exile in Dharamshala. ...

“It’s very effective and accessible for young people. It’s a wonderful vehicle for making them conscious of Tibet,” said Tempa Tsering, a spokesman for the Dalai Lama.

Link - via Fortean Times

There's something fantastic about Marta Antelo's illustrations: warmth, humor, and oh, yeah, bunnies!!!

Link - via Drawn!

Deep in a mine in Southern Chihuahua Mexico, there is a cave with magnificent, gigantic crystals called the Crystal Cave of Giants. Now, thanks to Richard Fisher, you can take a look at some amazing photographs of this natural wonder:

When I first stepped into the cavern it was like walking into the Land of the Giants. I have often admired crystal geodes held in my hand, but when photographing these unique natural structures it was almost impossible to get any sense of scale.

This is a geode full of spectacular crystals as tall as pine trees, and in some cases greater in circumference. They have formed beautiful crystals that are a translucent gold and silver in color, and come in many incredible forms and shapes. Some of the largest are essentially columnar in shape and stand thirty to fifty feet high and three to four feet in diameter. Many of the smaller examples are four to six feet in circumference, have many incredible geometrical shapes, and probably weigh in excess of ten tons.

The columnar pillars are at first the most striking shape, but later I noticed there were thousands of "sharks teeth" up to three feet high placed row upon row and dispersed at odd angles throughout the caverns. While some of the crystals are attached to the ceiling walls and floors of the cave as might be expected, some exist in great masses of spikes and almost float in air. These crystals seem to defy gravity, as they must weigh several tons.

Link - via digg

The town of Innisfail, Queensland, Australia, survived Cyclone Larry only to face a new problem: hungry marauding cassowaries!

The critically endangered and famously testy flightless bird, known for its ability to disembowel humans with its razor-sharp claws, is running amok through the backyards and suburban streets of north Queensland in search of food.

The birds are believed to have left rainforest areas after much of the fruit-bearing plants they depend on were knocked down by Larry's 260km/h winds.

Meanwhile, roaming cassowaries are reported to have chased several residents through town. One recently fell into a backyard swimming pool and had to be rescued.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,19286636-421,00.html

Two scientific studies discovered that at least 3 animals may be able to plan ahead.

Nicholas Mulcahy and Josep Call of the Max Plank Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany found that bonobo chimp and orangutans

... could choose a suitable tool for reaching a treat, carry it away and return with it to retrieve a treat hours later. It seems the apes were planning ahead for future rewards ...

Joanna Dally of the University of Cambridge, UK, found that Western scrub-jays:

... remember which birds were watching them when they first stored their food. They then use this information to decide whether to move the goods elsewhere to avoid theft ...

Link - via Olgui

Instructables has this step-by-step guide on how to make your own 3" trebuchet [wiki] from paperclips that can throw little balls of blue-tac to an amazing 4 feet.

You will need:

1 pair of pliers (needle nose would be best but i don't have those at work)
1 pair of scissors (yay for scissors)

7-8 paperclips
sellotape
thin string
blu-tac
a piece of corrugated card (approx 6X6")
Ballast (I used a bunch of batteries from our recycling box)

Link - via digg

Russian astronauts repairing the space station uses improvised tools because ... they lost the real ones!

The missing items include a rubber bag with a clasp needed to hold a residue collection plate which will be removed from the outside of the station during the spacewalk. Instead of the rubber bag, several bags secured with bungee cords will be used for carrying the plate, which has toxic contaminants. ...

"It's a lot like your house," said Paul Boehm, lead spacewalk officer. "You set your car keys down somewhere and hopefully you find them again later when you try to remember it."

Link - via PopSci Blog

Coronado Police Department in the laid back city of Coronado in San Diego bay, California, has a new police car: a 2006 Mustang GT!

http://www.nbcsandiego.com/video/9235488/index.html [video]

What do you get when you cross a hammock and a bed? Why, the floating bed, of course! This bed was invented by Jeff Huff, who claimed that the gentle rocking motion helps people fall asleep faster and sleep better.

Link - via Nothing to do with Arbroath.