Two manmade pollutants known best as threats to human health have just been charged with two more offenses: shifting rainfall patterns and mucking with food production. ANALYSIS: U.S. Pollution: Made in China Black carbon and tropospheric ozone, both of which derive from the incomplete burning of fossil fuels, may be working in cahoots with greenhouse gases to expand Earth’s tropical belt (highlighted above in red). Unabated, future expansion could drive major shifts in global precipitation patterns, which could in turn disrupt regional agriculture, warns climatologist Robert J. Allen of the University of California, Riverside. When the tropics widen, wind patterns shift toward the poles, dragging important mid-latitude storm tracks along with them. If storm systems move farther north, for example, southern portions of the U.S. ... Continue reading →

Doodle Music: Procrastination can really hurt your working day, so if you were trying to avoid any distractions don't search for anything using Google. But if you do, you might get sucked into today's Google Doodle -- in celebration of Robert Moog's 78th birthday. A digital version of Moog's analog creation, the Moog synthesizer, is there for you to enjoy. But once you've mastered "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" take some time to listen to the creations of others who procrastinated their hearts out with Moog renditions of the Dr Who theme, "Somebody That I Used To Know" by Gotye and the Tetris theme. (2:15 p.m.) via Sciencebase Juicebox-Shaped Fruit:Yes, it sounds like it should be the other way around -- fruit-shaped juiceboxes -- but a ... Continue reading →

Look over there, swimming through the waves. Is it a fish? Is it a robot? No, it's ... well, yes. It is a robot: a robot shaped like a fish. And this week, it was swimming through the water off the Spanish port of Gijon, flexing its fins as it went through the motions of conducting the kind of coastal marine patrol for which it was created. ANALYSIS: Robot Records Fish Farts No, not that. This piscine Robocop is designed to hunt for pollution. Created by a consortium of scientists funded by the European Union, the fish is about 5 feet long, costs around $31,000, and is fitted with sensors to pick up pollutants leaking from ships or undersea pipelines. According to Luke Speller of ... Continue reading →

Watching just a rider There are so many skateboarding videos out there, it’s hard for anything that doesn’t feature insane tricks or gold medal runs to catch anyone’s attention. This one, however, takes a different approach. It doesn’t show the skater at all, only his shadow. The result is at once visually enrapturing and oddly beautiful. WATCH: Stunt Junkies – Grand Canyon Skate The tricks themselves aren’t so ground-breaking, but the perspective of the video is. It’s the work of skater Joe Pease, and was posted to Vimeo by “grown-man-skateboarder” John Rattray, though his blog The Predatory Bird. It’s quiet: unusual for a skateboarding video. The music is by composers Nick Cave and Warren Ellis. Unsurprisingly, the video’s title, “Peter Brings the Shadow to Life” ... Continue reading →

Man Survives Niagara Falls Plunge: A man who was apparently trying to commit suicide Monday survived a 180-foot fall over Niagara Falls. Witnesses reported seeing the man climbing over a railing and the jump. He surfaced in a basin near an observation platform and got to shore on his own. The man was airlifted to a hospital and is expected to survive. He is only the third person known to have lived after going over the falls without a safety device.(9:30 a.m.) via Associated Press Falcon 9 Beams Up Scotty's Ashes: The SpaceX rocket Falcon 9 that launched into orbit this morning carried some of the ashes of actor James Doohan, who played Scotty on the original "Star Trek," as well as those of Mercury ... Continue reading →

Space Exploration Technologies, the first company aiming to reach the International Space Station, got off to a rocking start early Tuesday with the launch of its Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The 178-foot tall rocket, which carried a Dragon cargo capsule, lifted off at 3:44 a.m. EDT, arcing out over the Atlantic Ocean as it headed to a preliminary orbit about 200 miles above Earth. Eleven minutes later, Dragon passed its first key test, deploying solar panels needed to power the spacecraft. NEWS: Space Taxis: Next Stop Mars? Many more milestones will need to be met before NASA clears Dragon to approach the space station for berthing. If all goes as planned, space station flight engineer Don Pettit is ... Continue reading →

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Green Jeans A Party Foul in Paris? Paris fashion police are all a twitter over Green jeans. No, not the color - just the ones that France’s new housing minister wore to meet President Francois Hollande during the inaugural cabinet meeting at the presidential Elysee Palace in Paris. Cecile Duflot, 37-year-old head of the Greens ecology party, not only wore jeans to the meeting; she *gasp* also took public transportation! The only minister at the meeting to do so. (12:56 p.m.) via Reuters (Corbis images) Tajikistan Bans Mock Dictator Movie: Clearly, some people don't have a great sense of humor. The Central Asian state of Tajikistan refused to show the latest movie by British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen. It might have something to do with ... Continue reading →