Follow: @SlateViral, Facebook.com/SlateVideo Watch: YouTube.com/Slatester, SlateV.com Correction: This video states the ring around the moon during the solar eclipse would be visible because the moon is closer to Earth than usual; the ring will actually be visable because the moon is farther away. Keep your eyes to the skies this weekend—a special solar eclipse is headed our way. The annular eclipse, which has the moon getting directly in the way of our view of the sun on Sunday, is the first of its kind since 1994. But it won't be a total eclipse because the moon is closer to Earth than usual; instead you'll see a ring of fire around the moon. The phenomenon happens twice a year, but is usually only visible by a small fraction of the Earth's surface. This eclipse will be visible in China and Japan on May 21 and for the first time in 18 years by continental western states, California, Nevada, and Arizona, but not the East Coast, where the sun will have already set. Those in the Northeast will have to wait for the total eclipse in 2017. For those who will get a glimpse of the annular eclipse this weekend, though, don't forget mom's advice. If you don't have a solar filter, a pinhole projector, or some special solar-safe viewing glasses, you better refrain from staring—otherwise the next eclipse might be a lot harder to see.

Solar Eclipse Annular Eclipse Ring of Fire Moon Sun Lunar celestial bodies Astronomy Science Planets Space Sky Eclipse

With countless trick shot videos sprouting up on the Web, Slate V wants you to meet a doctor with mad sharpshooting skills.

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What do Bugs Bunny, the Smurfs, Winnie the Pooh, and the Muppet Babies have in common? They all feature in the freaky, animated anti-drug film Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue (1990). Mark Jordan Legan takes us on a psychedelic tour.

anti-drug cartoon Mark Jordan Legan Emily Calderone Slate V Animation

After months of demonstrations by the Occupy Wall Street movement, Slate V imagines a special edition Lego set just in time for the holidays.

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Follow @SlateViral, Watch more: SlateV.com, Facebook.com/SlateVideo What appears to be an adult albino orca has been sighted off the eastern coast of Russia--perhaps the first sighting ever of its kind in the wild. Albino orcas are believed to have weak immune systems, which makes the sighting of what appears to be a 16-year-old adult so unique. The killer whale, nicknamed "Iceberg," has been swimming with a family hunting pod in Russia's largest marine life preserve, which has been threatened by oil speculation.

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As the 2009 US Open Golf Championship gets underway, Slate V has uncovered a secret PGA scheme to boost TV ratings: add basketball announcers to the telecast.

Slate Slate V golf US Open Tiger Woods

Follow @SlateViral, Watch more: SlateV.com, Facebook.com/slatevideo Congressman Ron Paul may be running dead-last in the polls, but his fundraising efforts prove his campaign—and his belief that debt is an unnecessary evil—are far from deceased. The Texas representative and libertarian's campaign announced it raised over $10 million this quarter and a solid $2.6 million in March despite lagging interest in the media and the primary voting booth, according to Politico. His tenacious base of supporters may hope he can keep fighting and maybe pickup a big upset in his delegate-rich state of Texas in May. Of course, March's numbers also show a downward trend for Congressman Paul—he raised significantly more money in January and February. But at least he's debt-clean for now, which is more than some current and former candidates can say. Maybe Mr. Paul can start his own bank and loan some money to Newt Gingrich and Michele Bachmann—they could both use at least a million right now.

Ron Paul (US Congressperson) Economy Election America Fundraising Election 2012 Republicans

Maybe the Mayans were right, just a few years off. There's a 1 in 8 chance the earth may be hit with a catastrophic solar storm by the year 2020, according to a new report from space physicists. The sun changes in intensity on an 11-year cycle, and at its high intensity can whiplash charged particles in to space at 4-million miles per hour, hitting the earth's atmosphere and creating glowing ribbons of light known as auroras. But the light show can wreak havoc on electrical systems, cause radio blackouts, and more. The last such storm in 1859, known as the Carrington Event, set fire to telegraph stations. Researchers estimate a new event could cost $2 trillion in damages, paralyzing electrical grids, disrupting GPS systems and radio communications, and requiring a decade's worth of repairs. Paging John Cusack and Nick Cage: Better get this disaster movie in production—theaters may not have the juice to play it after the fact.

Earth Sun Storm Space Solar Storm Outer Space Solar flares Particles Physics Sun

If you think the Internet is fast now, wait till we get the quantum Internet. German physicists have created a basic quantum network between two labs that can transmit and store information via a fiber-optic cable at the quantum level. The network prototype features two all-purpose nodes that can send, receive, and store information that shoots between them on a single photon. It's all about the quantum bits, or quibits. Unlike ordinary electronic bits that can store either a 1 or 0 value, a quibit can hover between the two, effectively carrying both values. A network featuring quibits could thus carry complex information with an added level of encryption, and do it very, very fast. Of course, a reliable network carrying broader sets of data is still a ways off, but we're getting close. "Everything is at the edge of what can be done," says physicist Stephan Ritter. The question is, once we get a quantum Internet, will the cable guy install it at a greater rate of speed, too?

Physics Quantum Physics Quantum network computing Computer Electronics Internet Math Technology

Wendi Deng Murdoch, the third wife of media tycoon Rupert Murdoch, is trending after she leapt to her husband's defense—literally—during his testimony before the British Parliament. As the chairman of the News Corporation was answering questions about the phone-hacking scandal that is rocking his media empire, a protester burst into the hearing room and tried to "pie" him. Mrs. Murdoch, a former volleyball player, sprung into action, slapping the assailant as he lunged at his target. No one was injured. The pie thrower was arrested and the hearing resumed about 10 minutes later once order was restored.

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Nick Ashford has passed away at age 70. Ashford paired professionally with his wife, Valerie, to form Ashford Simpson, a songwriting and performing Motown duo. Ashford co-wrote many Motown hit singles with his wife, including "Ainapos;t No Mountain High Enough," "Ainapos;t Nothing Like the Real Thing," and "Youapos;re All I Need To Get By." Over four decades, the duo produced and wrote songs for Diana Ross, Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson the Miracles, and Gladys Knight the Pips, among others. More recently, they were given writing credit on Amy Winehouseapos;s album Back to Black for the single "Tears Dry on Their Own." For all the songwriting credits, Ashford and Simpson will probably be best remembered for their own 1984 hit ?Solid.?

Ashford & Simpson Motown Solid Tears Dry on Their Own. Nick Ashford Nick Ashford Dead at 71 You're All I Need To Get By. Marvin Gaye Ain't No Mountain High Enough

UC Davis is trending after a video of police officers in riot gear pepper-spraying peaceful protesters went viral. The students were staging the protest in support of the Occupy Wall Street movement and to show their solidarity with UC Berkeley students who were met with police batons in a similar demonstration earlier in November. Amid calls for her resignation, UC Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi has set a 30-day deadline for a special task force investigation of the incident. The university?s police chief has been placed on administrative leave.

tnc uc davis pepper spray protesters riot gear occupy occupy wall street ows #ows linda katehi uc berkeley students

Blues and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Etta James has died of complications from her battle with leukemia. The powerful and versatile singer, also known as Miss Peaches, had an ups and down career spanning more than half a century. She won six Grammys and opened for the Rolling Stones, but also overcame weight problems and a?heroin addiction. James told the LA Times in 1992 "A lot of people think the blues is depressing, but that's not the blues I'm singing. When I'm singing blues, I'm singing life. People that can't stand to listen to the blues, they've got to be phonies." Perhaps James' most indelible musical contribution was her signature version of "At Last," which was not only covered in an homage by Beyoncé, but by brides everywhere.

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No, "super moon" isn't the name of your cousin's band. It's a rare phenomenon that occurs when the moon's orbit gets unusually close to earth. And Saturday, March 19, will be the first "super moon" in almost 20 years. Full moons appear to range in size because the moon's orbit is elliptical. A super moon makes the moon seem about 15 percent larger and 30 percent brighter. So when's the best time to peep the super moon? Watch for it just as it rises above the horizon in the east. Low-hanging trees and buildings will frame it nicely while also giving you a point of reference for the apparent increase in size. Don't forget to howl accordingly.

super moon elliptical lunar orbit moon epigee moon March 19

Has the legend of El Chupacabra finally been debunked? Benjamin Radford of the Skeptical Inquirer says he can prove the purported blood-sucking, livestock-killing beast doesn't exist. Using Facebook, Radford tracked down Madelyn Tolentino, the Puerto Rican woman who first described the chupacabra in 1995. Back then, she gave a detailed description that included wide, dark eyes, thin arms, three fingers, air holes in place of a nose, and feathery spikes on its back. That bears a strong resemblance to the alien in the film Species, which Tolentino admitted to Radford she had seen just weeks prior to giving her description. So far, Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster have no comment on Radford's finding.

El Chupacabra El Chupacabra Debunked? Benjamin Radford Facebook Madelyn Tolentino Skeptical Inquirer Species urban legends urban legends debunked

Christopher Hitchens, iconoclastic journalist and author, has passed away of complications from esophageal cancer. Hitchens, who authored nearly 20 books including God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything and Hitch 22: A Memoir, was a contributing editor at Vanity Fair and the Atlantic, and a columnist at Slate. In an interview with Atlantic colleague Jeffrey Goldberg following his cancer diagnosis, Hitchens remained a steadfast atheist, allowing that any deathbed conversion to religion would be disingenuous: "The entity making such a remark might be a raving, terrified person whose cancer has spread to the brain," he said, "I can't guarantee that such an entity wouldn't make such a ridiculous remark. But no one recognizable as myself would ever make such a ridiculous remark." Hitchens was 62.

TNC Christopher Hitchens Hitchens Christopher Hitchens Dead God is Not Great Hitch 22 Vanity Fair the Atlantic esophageal cancer Hitchens atheist Hitchens liberal

The reign of "don't ask don't tell" has finally ended on Sept. 20, 2011. More than 14500 lesbian and gay military personnel have been dismissed under the law since it passed Congress in 1993. The act required service members who disclose that they are homosexual or engage in homosexual conduct to be discharged, unless it was "for the purpose of avoiding or terminating military service." The bill to repeal Don't Ask Don't Tell passed the House in May 2010 but was filibustered in the Senate and ultimately passed in December, when President Obama signed it into law. Final implementation comes after the Pentagon formally certified that the repeal would not negatively affect military readiness.

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It's been a good run everybody, but beware, because May 21 signals the start of the end of the world. Harold Camping, the 89-year-old president of the Family Radio network, insists that May 21, 2011 will see the biblical Rapture come to pass, when God will pull the faithful into heaven, leaving the rest of the world to face the apocalypse. "It is going to happen," Camping told National Public Radio. "There is no Plan B." Of course, Camping originally guaranteed the world would end in 1994. All of which means that when May 22 rolls around, we can get back to obsessing about the other end of the world, as foretold by the Mayans, on December 21, 2012.

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It's Monday, and yet the disastrous video for Rebecca Black's song "Friday" has gone viral. With such riveting lyrics as "Gotta get down to the bus stop" and "I see my friends," people all over the Web are ridiculing the song's cheesy plot and production. Black even gives us a lesson on the days of the week. The song was produced by Ark Music Factory, a Los Angeles company that writes and composes pop music for talented teenage vocalists. It remains to be seen whether "Friday" will propel Rebecca Black to stardom.

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Facebook is trending after word spread that the social-media giant is launching facial recognition software across the site. Unless users opt out, Facebook will try to recognize and identify faces in photos uploaded to the site, so users can be more easily tagged. Google recently shelved a similar project due to privacy concerns. Facebook users upload around 200 million photos a day and the site hosts over 90 billion photos and counting.

facebook google facebook photos tnc trending news channel

Time Magazine has revealed its 2011 Person of the Year: the Protestor. The magazine cited mass actions against dictators in the Middle East, anti-drug cartel sentiment in Mexico, marches against leaders in Greece, the Occupy Wall Street movement, and dissent over the Putin regime in Russia in rationalizing its choice. Among the other contenders were: Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, and SEAL Team 6, whose members killed Osama bin Laden. The Person of the Year is not always an accolade: Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, and Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini are some of the more notorious past recipients. But Time sees the Protesters of 2011 as a positive force. Managing Editor Rick Stengel writes, "There's this contagion of protest. These people who risked their lives ... I think it is changing the world for the better."

TNC Time Magazine Person of the Year Protestors Arab Spring Occupy Wall Street #ows Steve Jobs Gabrielle Giffords SEAL Team 6 Time Person of the Year

Twitter is trending on news that Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal reportedly invested $300 million in the microblogging website. The prince, ranked 26th on Forbes' list of the world's richest people, has a history of investing in media and tech: His company, Kingdom Holding, owns a percentage of both Apple and Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. The cash infusion allows Twitter to remain autonomous, and, for now, avoid having to sell any stock through an initial public offering.

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Neutrinos are trending after the subatomic particles were clocked traveling faster than the speed of light. Neutrinos are almost massless and capable of traveling through ordinary matter basically unaffected. Researchers fired an underground beam of them from CERNapos;s Geneva base to a lab 454 miles away in Gran Sasso, Italy. They found that the neutrinos beat particles of light to Italy by 60 nanoseconds, or sixty billionths of a second. The result, if it holds up, would challenge one of the pillars of Einsteinapos;s theory of special relativity, proposed in 1905. Many scientists remain skeptical, believing that something is amiss with the experiment and that 186282 miles per second remains the cosmic speed limit.

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Ivanka Trump had her baby and sent a birth notice shortly thereafter via Twitter. Her first child with husband Jared Kushner and Donald Trumpapos;s third grandchild, Ivanka tweeted, "This morning @jaredkushner and I welcomed a beautiful and healthy little baby girl into the world." Muse front man Matt Bellamy also used the social media site to announce his and actress Kate Hudsonapos;s new baby last week, making Twitter a sort of stork for the 21st century.

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WELCOME TO THE KINGDOM OF GOD ----------------- I AM JESUS CHRIST ---------------- www.youtube.com (WATCH MOVIE)------ www.kingdomofgodcornerstone.com (WEBSITE)-------- "FOLLOW ME" tags donparsley slatester thecatdiaries valnix panzersprechen mrweebl whospuss furryfashionista CHRISTIANS YAHWEH JESUS CHRIST BIBLE CATHOLIC CHURCH PROTESTANT

donparsley slatester thecatdiaries valnix panzersprechen mrweebl whospuss furryfashionista CHRISTMAS CHRISTIANS YAHWEH JESUS CHRIST BIBLE CATHOLIC CHURCH PROTESTANT

For her latest film role, Meryl Streep perfectly mimics TV chef Julia Childs unique patter. Its just the latest of many accents Streep has mastered over her long career.

Slate Slate V Meryl Streep Julie and Julia Julia Child

AccuWeather's Jim Kosek just might be the most entertaining meteorologist in America. He's certainly the most manic. And his gyrations in front of a green screen can turn weather into theater.

Jim Kosek Accuweather Slate meteorology

What's the best way to market a condom? A sampling of ads from around the world shows that a lot depends on the prevailing attitudes about sex.

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As Super Bowl XLIV approaches, Slate V imagines what it might look like if major filmmakers were allowed to direct the telecast.

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March of the giant penguins! A 27-million-year-old fossil of the largest penguin ever known has been found in New Zealand. Standing at about 5 feet, the penguin likely weighed 130 pounds and resembled its modern counterpart, except for a longer bill and more slender body. In comparison, today's largest penguin, the Emperor penguin, stands about 3 feet tall and weighs around 85 pounds. Tatsuro Ando of the Ashoro Museum of Paleontology in Japan told Discovery News that these giant flightless birds first emerged about 50 million years ago, not long after the extinction of dinosaurs, and thrived for 25 million years before dying out, likely due to a drastic change in their environment. No word yet on whether or not New Zealand's giant penguin is technically an ancestor of Danny DeVito. But we're working on it.

Penguin New Zealand Penguin Tasmania Giant Penguin Fossils Ancient Birds dinosaur Club Penguin Birds Ice Age

A near-miss asteroid has the Twitterverse wondering: Just how close will it come to hitting Earth? Designated "2011 MD," the space rock was first detected on June 22 by LINEAR—MITapos;s Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research center—and will miss the planet by just 7500 miles. The asteroid is believed to be between 8 and 18 meters, about the size of a small house, and will next approach us in 2022. But even if our orbits intersect, itapos;s likely to explode in our upper atmosphere, doing relatively little damage.

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With Halloween around the corner, costumes, candy, and Charlie Brown are at the top of people?s minds. Waiting out the Great Pumpkin with the Peanuts gang has been a favorite holiday treat since the animated special first aired back in 1966. But in a modern twist, people are taking to Twitter with #RejectedPeanutsSpecials to bring Charlie Brown into 2011. Top tweets include "It?s called depression, Charlie Brown", "It's Not the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. That's Snookie," and in a nod to Harold Camping's off-base Apocalypse predictions, "It's the Rapture, Charlie Brown! (postponed twice will now air 12/21/12)."

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Follow: @SlateViral, Facebook.com/SlateVideo, watch more: SlateV.com Finally, we have proof that mind reading robots can be used for good, not evil. With the help of scientists from Switzerland's Federal Institute of Technology, a partially paralyzed man was able to control the movements of a mind-reading robot from over 60 miles away simply by using brain signals. The robot, resembling a rolling laptop, received signals decoded from the man's brain when he imagined lifting his paralyzed fingers. Though a major milestone, the robot required his full attention to successfully move, and was more difficult to control when the man was in pain or distracted by television. Although similar developments with mind-reading robots have been demonstrated before, this particular experiment required no invasive brain plants, only a head cap able to record signals emitted from the patient's brain. We see a new style trend in the works!

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#RIP James and Lily Potter is trending on what would be the 30th anniversary of the fictional wizards' death at the hand of Lord Voldemort. As hundreds of millions of readers and moviegoers know, Harry Potter?s parents were Gryffindor students in the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry who were subsequently forced into hiding due to a prophecy about their infant son. Author JK Rowling conceived of Harry Potter as an orphan to add dimension to his character and then in later drafts incorporated his longing for his dead parents after her own mother passed away.

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As Tiger Woods recovers from a car accident and contends with reports of philandering, Slate V imagines what the golfing great might be typing into that familiar white search bar (with apologies to Google's new ad campaign).

Slate Slate V Tiger Woods Rachel Uchitel Jaimee Grubbs parody Google search stories celebrity affairs celebrities

You don't have to be Cheech or Chong to know marijuana messes with your memory. But just in case you forgot, it does, and now scientists may know why. Long suspecting that pot's psychoactive compound THC caused memory loss by loosening the synapses in the hippocampus region of the brain, two international teams of researchers have recently discovered that non-neuronal cells called astrocytes, previously thought only to support neuron function, actually produce a chemical called AMPA when they interact with THC. This newly discovered compound can either mitigate or enhance synaptic responses that affect memory, resulting in those moments where you can't remember where you put the Funyuns. But this isn't just toker trivia. The discovery may lead to a whole new field of study, and the creation of THC-derived pain-killers that don't affect working memory. Soon we might be able to forget the word burnout as we burn one down.

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Laughing Baby Goes Viral

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Bon Iver has won the Grammy for best new artist, and the Twitterverse wants to know: Who the heck is Bon Iver? Within hours of lead man Justin Vernon accepting his award, that question spawned a dedicated Tumblr site of angry or confused tweets featuring the artist, and a new twitter handle, @whoisbonniebear, playing on peoples' mispronunciation of the band's name. Vernon?who randomly collaborated with Kanye West on My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy ?accepted the award with an awkward and unpolished speech, sparking further questions how the indie music darlings band beat Nicky Minaj, Skrillex, and The Band Perry. The Arcade Fire sent a similar maelstrom across the Web last year after winning the Grammy for best album for the Suburbs. Sorry, J. Cole fans?maybe next year?

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Researchers believe they may have found the fabled city of Atlantis in Spain.

Atlantis Spain lost city of Atlantis

"Sweet Home Chicago," The Obama Version Election 2012 is getting more musical all the time, even if the candidates aren't likely to sing in harmony. President Obama had his own entry for The Voice this week, in a blues standard performance at The White House that again proved he has real pipes. A group of top-notch musicians were playing for the president and guests at "In Performance at the White House: Red, White, and Blues," which will air on PBS. Dared by blues giants Buddy Guy and BB King, the president took the microphone and sang a bit of "Sweet Home Chicago," drawing cheers from the audience and fellow performers, including Rolling Stones front man Mick Jagger. Last month, the president's a cappella tribute to Al Green at the Apollo Theater in New York during a fundraiser went viral. In a new interview with Jay Leno, Michelle Obama divulged that off-camera—and not in the presence of his musical betters—the president is far from bashful about breaking into song. In 40 years, those are going to be some interesting White House tapes.

Obama sings President sings Obama Al Green BB King Mick Jagger Buddy Guy Chicago Blues Blues Music

Follow:@SlateViral Facebook.com/slatevideo Watch: SlateV.com, Youtube.com/Slatester We all knew Tetris was a satisfying game, but placing those blocks just so may do much more than rack up points—it might reduce the effects of PTSD. A study presented at the British Psychology Society's Annual Conference this week suggests flashbacks, the jarring mental images that haunt those suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, can be significantly reduced by engaging in the visual-spatial tasks of video game play. Soldiers or others who deal with the reoccurring, nightmarish memories have reported the finding anecdotally before. But the British study tested the theory, showing subjects a disturbing film to simulate trauma and then asking them to do different tasks. Those who played Tetris experienced fewer flashbacks. Scientists believe the game's high demand on visual special skills disrupts and prevents the mental imagery of the flashbacks. This is good news—as long as patients don't mind seeing rotating blocks when they close their eyes at night.

Science health medical

Follow: @SlateViral, Facebook.com/SlateVideo Watch: YouTube.com/Slatester, SlateV.com The Martian winter is over, and scientists are scouring the planet from ground and sky. The latest findings? Like a giant sand box, the Red Planet's massive sculpted sand dunes are often moving around. Long thought to be ancient artifacts of a more windy and seismic past, dunes at the Nili Paterna crater and beyond appear static from Earth. But NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter turned its HiRise high-resolution camera on the dunes for a period of 105 days, and found the Martian mounds were moving at a pace very similar to the dune fields of Antarctica here at home. The Mars rover Opportunity is also on the move in the new spring, headed north on the planet to study dust and bedrock. The new data will help researchers in a better global understanding of the Martian surface and development of future robotic and human missions to our red neighbor. Maybe a sand worm hunt. Or a spice harvest?

Mars (Planet) Space Opportunity Opportunity Rover (Spacecraft) Mars Orbiter Alien Alien Planet NASA Discoveries Mars Discoveries

Follow: @SlateViral, Facebook.com/SlateVideo Watch more: Youtube.com/slatester, SlateV.com The newest lizard species' known to man have an awesome family name, an epic history and an uncertain future. A research team has identified 24 new kinds of lizards in the Caribbean called skinks (from the family Scincidae). Using a combination of museum specimens and DNA sequences, the team identified a total of 39 species of lizards, which arrived in the Caribbean Islands 18 million years ago from Africa by floating on mats of vegetation. The species vary widely in size, and are unique among lizards because they produce a human-like placenta, providing nutrients to offspring. Unfortunately, half of the newly discovered species are either extinct or close to extinction, and the other half could disappear soon. Skink populations may have become threatened there during the late 19th century when farmers began using the mongoose to help control rat populations in sugarcane fields. Researchers hope their data will help with conservation efforts. Maybe it's time for some corporate sponsorship? Geico's done wonders for that Gecko.

Lizard (Animal) Caribbean Skink Scincidae reptile snakes salamander Gecko science new species Animal Kingdom

Follow: @SlateViral, Facebook.com/SlateVideo Watch more: Youtube.com/slatester, SlateV.com It's like the best—and oldest—episode of CSI ever imagined, and they finally have some blood to send to the lab. The most ancient red blood cells known to man have been discovered in the 5300-year-old body of the ice man Oetzi. Researchers have long been looking for blood in the famous mummy discovered in the Italian Alps by hikers in 1991. But using a method called atomic force microscopy and a new laser procedure known as Raman spectroscopy, scientists finally found the classic doughnut-shaped red blood cells in a sample of tissue taken from around the deadly arrow wound in Oetzi's back. The discovery is especially exciting because the new methods could eventually be used in modern forensics to help find the age of blood samples.

Blood (Biofluid) Oetzi ice man ice mummy blood samples Alps Science health forensics plasma red blood cells blood cells blood #iceman #oetzi educational

Follow: @SlateViral, Facebook.com/SlateVideo Watch more: Youtube.com/slatester, SlateV.com We've always known that pigeons have a good internal compass—and now we have the brain cells to prove it. Scientists at Baylor College of Medicine have discovered 53 neuron cells in the small bird's brain that may actually make up a biological "GPS system," each with its own characteristic response to the Earth's magnetic field. The combined data of each neuron's reaction to its north-south and up-down orientation gives the pigeon not only an accurate compass heading, but may also give it coordinates on a mental map. Researchers concede that these navigational neurons may not be the only mechanisms the bird uses to get home—they're also looking for clues in its ear, eyes and beak. But the latest findings give their research a good direction to head in. For those of us who can't navigate our way out of our own driveways, it might be time to find a replacement for the phrase "bird brain."

Pigeon Brain navigation carrier pigeons Bird Animal Birds Science Bird study compass homing pigeon

Follow: @SlateViral, Facebook.com/SlateVideo Watch: YouTube.com/Slatester, SlateV.com Going viral might just have a new meaning. Scientists at the Berkeley National Laboratory have found a new way to create electricity with a combination of human movements and, amazingly, benign viruses. After determining the M13 bacteriophage virus was both benign and could generate piezoelectricity—a collected charge in certain materials when stimulated—the scientists built this postage stamp-sized device that stimulated the virus with the tapping of a finger. Tethered to the virus itself, the growth of energy created in this process would also be exponential, suggesting the possibility of a limitless energy source. The research suggests that viruses could someday power small electronics and be woven in to our clothing or even the floors of buildings to generate power through human movement. That's either the glimpse of the holy grail of energy independence—or the beginning of a crazy horror movie

Electricity (Fuel) Virus Viral Viruses Laboratory (Building Function) Energy Clean energy Power Warming Science Technology Computer energy independence

Follow: @SlateViral, Facebook.com/SlateVideo Watch: YouTube.com/Slatester, SlateV.com The fountain of youth may be only a gene therapy treatment away. Scientists have successfully extended the lifespan of mice up to 24 percent with a single treatment of gene therapy. Studies have shown it's possible to lengthen the life span of mammals by acting on specific genes, but that was limited to gene alteration in the embryonic stage. By inducing cells to produce telomerase, the enzyme that effectively slows down the biological clock by repairing the tips of a cell's chromosomes, the study "shows that it is possible to develop a telomerase-based anti-aging gene therapy without increasing the incidence of cancer." While aging itself is not considered a disease, the treatment could help fight insulin resistance and cardiovascular disease in older patients. The big question is when can we get it in over-the-counter form, for three easy payments of $19.99?

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Follow: @SlateViral, Facebook.com/SlateVideo Watch: YouTube.com/Slatester, SlateV.com Researchers are going bananas after capturing video of one of the world's most endangered species, the Cross River Gorilla. This footage from Cameroon's Kagwene Gorilla sanctuary shows a group of eight Cross River Gorillas, a species with a total population of about 300, moving noisily along the forest floor. One of the four gorilla sub species, the Cross River lives in the mountainous region of the Nigerian-Cameroon border, where habitat loss and poaching have greatly reduced their numbers. One gorilla in the footage is missing a hand, possibly at the hands of a poaching snare. Though the gorillas are safer in the 20 sq kilometer sanctuary because of ant-poaching patrols, most of the species lives outside the patrolled area. Along with being illegal, poaching the Cross River seems like a foolish endeavor. Would you mess with this guy?

Gorillas Gorilla (Animal) Cross River Gorilla Monkey Camera Hunting Poaching Endangered Endangered species