The Phoenix Mars Lander has announced the discovery of real ice on Mars! Link -via Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories

NASA has just a little bit more information. Some bright material that was photographed four days ago has disappeared, leading scientists to believe it was ice that vaporized when exposed.

"It must be ice," said Phoenix Principal Investigator Peter Smith of the University of Arizona, Tucson. "These little clumps completely disappearing over the course of a few days, that is perfect evidence that it's ice. There had been some question whether the bright material was salt. Salt can't do that."

The chunks were left at the bottom of a trench informally called "Dodo-Goldilocks" when Phoenix's Robotic Arm enlarged that trench on June 15, during the 20th Martian day, or sol, since landing. Several were gone when Phoenix looked at the trench early today, on Sol 24.

There will be a press conference Friday at 1PM EDT with more details. Link

Update: Wired has the two photographs in gif form so you can see the difference. http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2008/06/mars-phoenix-tw.html

The post entitled New Meaningful Life Of Famous Logos shows various logos in their natural habitats. Watch for the bonus goofy discussion after the gymnastics picture. Link -via Dump Trumpet

A “mind-boggling” crop circle has been spotted in a barley field in Wiltshire, England. The design is a code that represents the first ten digits of pi.

Michael Reed, an astrophysicist, said: "The tenth digit has even been correctly rounded up. The little dot near the centre is the decimal point.

"The code is based on 10 angular segments with the radial jumps being the indicator of each segment.

"Starting at the centre and counting the number of one-tenth segments in each section contained by the change in radius clearly shows the values of the first 10 digits in the value of pi."

It doesn’t seem so “mind-boggling” to me. I should think that math geeks would be exactly the sort of people to join a crop circle maker group. Link -via Digg

(Live Leak link)
Must’ve been really dirty, to need a hosing inside. -via Bits and Pieces

Vajdahunyad Castle in Budapest is the home of the Hungarian Agricultural Museum. It’s also the home of hundreds of antlers.

Hundreds of antlers, horns, hooves, and fur. Stuffed birds and mounted bears. Cutlery with horn handles carved into foxes. Antler broaches, antler chandeliers, and antler chairs. It is known as “The Hall of Hunting.” With beautiful vaulted ceilings and stained glass windows, along with the fact that the Agricultaral Museum is often empty, this top floor feels like the church of a long lost deer deity. Echoed footsteps and hushed whispers lend a quiet respect to these relics of the hunt.

One example of taxidermy art that stands out from the rest is two deer heads mounted together with their antlers entangled. Curious Expeditions has the story behind the museum and the antlers. Link

The Mosuo culture of the Hunan and Sichuan provinces in southwestern China is a matriarchal society, with women calling the shots. In this video report from National Geographic, one woman explains why she doesn’t want to marry. She is still in a passionate relationship with her child’s father after eight years because she doesn’t have to live with him or deal with in-laws. Makes sense to me. Link

Today’s Lunchtime Quiz at mental_floss will test your sense of spacial geography. Ten US states have been taken out of context and rotated. Can you recognize the states by their shape alone? I scored 100%, but the current average is 69%.

Altered States

Score: 100% (10 out of 10)

That surprised me, because some of these are difficult! http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/15869

Six baby ducks fell into a storm drain in Gosforth, Newcastle. The mother duck couldn’t fit through the grate, so she walked along the path of the sewer pipe, following the sounds of duckling cries. She had to cross highways and a railroad to keep up with them. The journey stopped at a manhole, where the duck quacked for help for hours. Passers by lifted the manhole cover with a crowbar and brought all six ducklings to safety.

Northumbria Water staff used a laptop showing the sewage layout to work out where the babies had got into it — and how far the mother had walked after them.

They fell into the system at the Three Mile Inn in Gosforth and were swept along the Great North Road before going beneath two schools divided by the Metro line.

They were then washed below a sports field, a hospital and an estate before ending up under the manhole in Barrasford Close.

The mother and ducklings were taken to a nearby pond. Link -via Arbroath

Joshua Heineman of Cursive Buildings has been collecting and altering archived images from the New York Public Library. He makes them wiggle, which creates a three-dimensional effect. You’ll have to click the link to see what I’m trying to explain. In the short term, the pictures seem to come to life. If you stare at any one of them too long, you may become dizzy. Link -via the Presurfer

(YouTube link)
I well remember the horror that was Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. I had nightmares for weeks afterward. Ha! This trailer illustrates again how important a film’s soundtrack is. -via Viral Video Chart

A group of children in Terra Haute, Indiana were robbed of $17.50 at their lemonade stand. 18-year-old Steven Tryon grabbed the money from Dominique Morefield’s hand and ran off. Morefield chased the thief while calling police on her cell phone.

Tryon ran into a house down the street where police spent more than 45 minutes trying to coax him out. When he finally came out, police arrested him. The kids were able to identify him because they said he came to their street corner earlier that same day and tried to sell them a knife.

Tryon was taken to the Vigo County Jail. He's due in court Tuesday. He is facing a felony robbery charge.

The kids say they will continue to sell lemonade, with adult supervision. Link -via J-Walk Blog

It’s usually easy to figure out the city with the biggest number of people in any US state. The second-most populous city doesn’t get as much press about that fact. Can you guess the second most populous city in 15 states? Take the Lunchtime Quiz today at mental_floss! I scored 73%, which is below the average so far (but before the quiz was made public). How did YOU do? http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/15840

The “solstice moon” will be visible tomorrow night. It just might be the biggest thing you’ve seen in quite some time!

There's no better time to see it. The full Moon of June 18th is a "solstice moon", coming only two days before the beginning of northern summer. This is significant because the sun and full Moon are like kids on a see-saw; when one is high, the other is low. This week's high solstice sun gives us a low, horizon-hugging Moon and a strong Moon Illusion.

NASA explains how the illusion works. Link

(image credit: Edmund E. Kasaitis)

You see pictures of misspelled or otherwise wrong road marking on the internet all the time, but you don’t know how old they are or whether they are altered, and you rarely find out where they are. But this lane marking in Florida is well-documented. You’ll find it on the John F. Kennedy Causeway in Miami, Florida -at least until they fix it. Or fix them. Joe Petrone couldn’t believe his eyes when he drove through the newly-painted causeway.

''I pulled in the right lane and I saw it,'' Petrone said of the stretch between Harbor Island and Pelican Harbor Park. ``Then I saw another one and another one. . . .''

The mistake -- still there -- is repeated not once, not twice, but four times.

http://www.miamiherald.com/460/story/572680.html -via Fark

(YouTube link)
The Trons are a band of robots from New Zealand. They had a MySpace page earlier but the link isn't working right now. -via Viral Video Chart

Update 6/18/08 by Alex - here's an interview with The Trons, by David Farrier of TV3 Nightline: Link [YouTube] - Thanks David!