Uranus lies on its side.  It has an axial tilt of over 90 degrees relative to the plane of the solar system.   As a result, each pole gets 42 YEARS of continuous sunlight, followed by 42 years of continuous darkness.  It has always been assumed that during the formation of the solar system, a protoplanet collided with Uranus, knocking it askew.

Now, two astronomers at the Observatoire de Paris in France have proposed a mechanism to explain this unusual orientation:

Boue and Laskar's idea is that Uranus once had a moon of the required size and orbit, which caused the planet to tilt during the planetary migration, but that this moon was ejected during a close encounter towards the end of the migration.

This thesis has been supported by computer modeling, and it offers an additional benefit of explaining why Uranus has rings but not another moon.

The planet was named for the Latinized form of the Greek god of the sky, but the pronunciation of the planet's name has always been the source of some embarassment to English-speaking astronomers because the public does not appreciate that the emphasis should be on the first syllable.

Link and image credit to MIT's Technology Review.

Have you ever wondered why tomatoes, potatoes, and some other plants have hairy stems?  Of course not.  Neither have I, until I encountered an explanation in the Telegraph yesterday.

Botanists have discovered for the first time that the plants are carnivorous predators who kill insects in order to "self-fertilise" themselves.  New research shows that they capture and kill small insects with sticky hairs on their stems and then absorb nutrients through their roots when the animals decay and fall to the ground.  It is thought that the technique was developed in the wild in order to supplement the nutrients in poor quality soil – but even domestic varieties grown in your vegetable patch retain the ability.

The fact that they are capable feeding on small insects has been overlooked because domesticated varities are typically grown in rich soils where such dietary supplementation is unnecessary.  They of course also lack the dramatic apparatus shown below in the outstanding video of the Venus flytrap, or the adaptations shown by the sundew and pitcher plant.

Link.  Photo credit Tom Bullock.

YouTube link

Many famous songs that originated in movies or Broadway musicals were preceded by an introduction that was sung rather than spoken.  These verses, properly considered part of the lyrics, are often omitted when the song is covered by other artists or presented outside the setting of the movie.  Barbra Streisand's original rendition of "People," embedded above, began with these words:

We travel single-o,
Maybe we’re lucky, but I don’t know.
With them just let one kid fall down and seven mothers faint
I guess we’re both happy, but maybe we ain’t . . .

In a column at MinnPost, Don Effenberger has assembled the introductions to "When You Wish Upon a Star," "Getting to Know You," "Hello, Young Lovers," "Night and Day," "Someone to Watch Over Me," and 10 others, and has arranged them in a quiz format, inviting you to match the introductory phrases with the famous song.  Links are provided for video or audio versions which include the introduction.  Some of pairs in the quiz are quite difficult; others - such as this one - you must remember:

This day and age we`re living in
Gives cause for apprehension
With speed and new invention
And things like third dimension
Yet we get a trifle weary
With Mr. Einstein’s theory
So we must get down to earth at times
Relax, relieve the tension
And no matter what the progress
Or what may yet be proved
The simple facts of life are such
They cannot be removed . . .

Quiz link.

National Geographic video link.

Last year Neatorama offered a link to a Telegraph article about a remote Brazilian village with, in Miss Cellania's words, a "bazillion Brazilian" twins.  Now Candido Godol will be the subject of an upcoming documentary in a National Geographic's Explorer program.

The statistics are jaw-dropping: 44 pairs of twins in 80 families in a 1.5-square-mile area - a rate 1000% above the global average.  Some scientists attribute this to a "founder effect" since many of these Brazilians are descendants of German immigrants who clustered in this remote outback area.  Others wonder about environmental contamination or simple chance.  The National Geographic program will apparently focus on the more tabloid-worthy "Joseph Mengele-was-here" hypothesis.

Via Reddit, where there is a discussion thread.

The vast majority (>90%) of Chinese are Han Chinese.  The remainder are distributed among 55 other ethnic groups.  This diversity was awkwardly displayed during the opening ceremonies of the last Olympic games, when a parade of 56 children representing those groups was later revealed to have been comprised of 56 Han Chinese children wearing the ethnic clothing of the other groups.

Now there is a photoessay which appears to correct that gaffe.  All of the ethnic groups are portrayed in professionally composed group portraits, with the subjects wearing traditional dress and often carrying traditional instruments or tools.  Pictured above as an example are the ethnic Kazak; the others are at the link.  It's an impressive photo gallery.

Link.

Economic activity inside North Korea has reportedly ground to a halt following a government announcement that it is devaluing its currency at a rate of 100:1.

There were reports of public outrage and confusion after the announcement of the measure, which requires North Koreans to swap existing won notes for new ones at an exchange rate of one to 100 — effectively knocking two zeroes off their value. Because of a cap of 100,000 won per family (£475 at the official exchange rate), anyone with significant holdings of cash will have their savings wiped out.

The move is seen as an effort to quash small businesses and private enterprises which have proliferated in the unofficial economy.  As many as 30,000 vendors are believed to operate in a market outside the capital, Pyongyang, and many of them had accumulated substantial cash reserves.  This move effectively confiscates that cash.

Analysts do not foresee any direct economic repercussions outside the country, but it does serve as a reminder that many other world currencies are, like the North Korean won, "fiat money"

Links at the Times Online, Wall Street Journal, and Economist.  Photo credit.

The Food & Travel section of GQ has a 6-page article reporting the successful growing of black truffles in Tennessee.  When Julia Child's book was released in the United States, the recipes called for canned truffles because fresh ones were virtually unknown.  Even in France the black Périgord truffles are in short supply, and they are considered a supreme delicacy.

Although the truffle possesses a pleasant crunch, it is treasured not so much for its taste or appearance but for its aroma, which has been likened to bedsheets after a night of abandon, slatterns who disdain to bathe, all that is dark and alluring about the human body and soul. In the middle of the winter growing season, they can be fruity and floral. Later, they become muskier...

They are not just pungent. They meld with certain foodstuffs, in particular fresh pasta, melted cheese, and runny eggs, enhancing their taste. They work well with vanilla ice cream, too. They are intoxicating. They weaken and captivate...

Truffle farming is difficult because it may require planting an orchard of hundreds of hazelnut and oak trees to host the mushrooms, but there are certain financial rewards: "The best day for him was December 21, 2008, when Tom located 24.2 pounds of truffles, worth more than $14,000... I selected the best of the previous day's harvest and paid the prevailing rate of $640 a pound, exactly what French black truffles were selling for in America..."

GQ link, via Metafilter

A design award has been given for a concept that would allow existing traffic lights to be retrofitted with progress bars that offer a visual representation of when the light will change.  Several benefits have been suggested...

- Less pollution, as drivers can turn their engines off and cut carbon emissions while waiting for the green light,
- Less fuel consumption, as turning off vehicle engines lowers fuel consumption in the long run,
- Less stress, since drivers know exactly how long to wait, and
- Safer driving, as all traffic participants are fully aware of how much time they have left before the light changes, reducing the chance for potential traffic accidents.

Link, via Gizmodo and Reddit (where the discussion thread is decidedly less sanguine regarding the consequences of such lights).

An elk has been identified as the perpetrator of a murder in Sweden.

In 2008 the body of a Swedish woman was found by a lake; she had been taking her dog for a walk, and failed to return.  Her husband was arrested and briefly held in custody.

Now the case has been dropped after forensic analysis found elk hair and saliva on his wife's clothes... The European elk, or moose, is usually considered to be shy and will normally run away from humans. But Swedish Radio International says the animals can become aggressive after eating fermented fallen apples in gardens.

The relevance of the photo will be compehensible only to fans of Monty Python.

BBC link.  Photo credit.

The "green flash" is not a superhero, but an optical phenomenon more talked about than seen.

The truth is the green flash does exist and its cause is well understood. Just as the setting Sun disappears completely from view, a last glimmer appears startlingly green... The effect is typically visible only from locations with a low, distant horizon, and lasts just a few seconds... the effect is caused by layers of the Earth's atmosphere acting like a prism.

There is a gallery of photos in Wikipedia; the one embedded above comes from the archives of Astronomy Picture of the Day, a wonderful source for photos of both astronomical and atmospheric phenomena.

Link.

YouTube link.

Similar in principle to the colored spirals, the shades of blue, and the famous checkershadow illusion, this video demonstrates that our brains judge colors by comparing an object or area to other objects or areas rather than assessing the color directly.

Found at Reddit, where there is a discussion thread re the illusion.

Christie's auction house in London is offering the original articulated model of King Kong as part of a pop culture sale. This is the model that was used in the stop-animation sequence in which Kong climbed the Empire State Buiding in the movie's final sequences.

It is estimated to reach between $168,000 and $252,000 when it is auctioned Nov. 24.

The Washington Post has an additional full-length photo.  Credit for this photo Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images.

YouTube link.

The story of Rom Houben was posted earlier today on Neatorama, and is being carried on every major online news site - a Belgian man paralyzed for 23 years and diagnosed as being in a vegetative state has been found through new technology to be alert but "locked in."  With an assistant helping him communicate by means of a keyboard, he is now reportedly describing what this experience has been like.  The case adds fuel to the fiery controversy regarding end-of-life planning and the right to die.

Every site that I have encountered has taken the story at face value.  The one exception has come from the James Randi, who has written an essay entitled "This Cruel Farce Has to Stop!"  He notes that the communications from the subject all occur via a "facilitator" who "supports" the patient's hand as it traverses the keyboard...

The "facilitated communication" process consists of the "facilitator" actually holding the hand of the subject over the keyboard, moving the hand to the key, then drawing the hand back from the keyboard! This very intimate participatory action lends itself very easily to transferring the intended information to the computer screen. In the video you have just viewed, it is very evident that (a) the "facilitator" is looking directly at the keyboard and the screen, and (b) is moving the subject's hand. The video editing is also biased, giving angles that line up the head of the subject with the screen, as if the subject were watching the screen.

At the essay, Randi states that he has previously investigated "facilitated communication" when it was used to communicate with severely autistic children;  he found the technique to be faulty and subject to observer bias in the manner of the "clever Hans" effect.

This patient is clearly severely impaired but is clearly not brain dead.  Brain imaging studies have shown evidence of consciousness and awareness, which is fully compatible with his impairment.  The controversy is whether the communications are valid representations of his thoughts, or whether they are (consciously or subconsciously) creations of the facilitator.

The video embedded above is a brief excerpt from the MSNBC video.  Several other videos are available at the BBC, Telegraph, and other news sites.

Link, via Reddit.

Addendum:  Subsequent controlled trials failed to show any validity for "facilitated communication."

Hugh Hefner and his daughter Christie spent over 50 years building the image of Playboy magazine, which is now up for sale.

Iconix Brand Group, a fashion house, has expressed interest in purchasing Playboy Enterprises, but they have no interest in the famous magazine, its storehouse of interviews, or its photo archive of naked women.  Competition from the internet has rendered those resources less valuable.  On the other hand...

...the bunny ears brand hearkens back to an era when Playboy was widely read and epitomized the idea of the urbane sophisticate who appreciates the finer things that the swinging bachelor lifestyle promises.

So the company is seeking a partner in the publishing world to take the magazine and other Playboy-related assets.  All they want is the logo.

Link.  Image credit.

It's been a long and undoubtedly strange journey for Galileo Galilei's various body parts.  Some of you will recall that when his body was reinterred in 1737,  his middle finger was removed, along with several other body parts.  The finger and a vertebra have been stored (and displayed) in museums in Florence and Padua.

However, after passing through various collections for several hundred years, a tooth, a thumb, and another finger "went missing" in 1905.  It was just recently that they were identified:

"His lost fingers and tooth were bought by an unnamed collector at a recent auction, where they were being sold as unidentified artifacts contained in an 17th century wooden case..."

So will these appendages now be reunited with the rest of his corpse in the tomb in Florence?  Well, not exactly.  It seems they will "be exhibited from early 2010, when [Florence's History of Science] museum will re-open after current renovation work and will change its name to the Galileo museum."

Those who find this entire business a bit bizarre are invited to also read or listen to NPR's report about "The Twisted Journey of Napoleon's Privates."

Link.  Photo credit.