Friday, September 28, 2007

Wonder how much that cost?

So apparently a study at Vanderbilt has discovered that roaches learn better in the evening and at night and can't learn things in the morning. This brings up a few ... oh let's call them bewilderments.

When did we learn that roaches "learn" things??? The article said researchers (as opposed to the retarring crew outside i suppose) "taught" roaches to like peppermint scent which they usually just HATE by bribing them with sugar water more than they like vanilla scent which is "one of their favorite smells". Had no idea roaches were so particular.

So, knowing this, the "researchers" trained hundreds of cockroaches at different times throughout a single day...stop. THIS job i want. ok...go. and figured out that the ones from later in the day could "remember the association" between the peppermint and the sugar water for several days and the ones in the morning couldn't even get it right.

This, they say, shows that they are controlled by their biological clock...well duh, they get stepped on during the day so why bother doing anything but sleeping? Where's my grant?

THEN the leader of this little adventure into the bizarre said the study could provide insight into links between biological clocks, memory and learning for other animals and humans. Lemme see, humans learn better during the day cause the roaches aren't around grossing out the humans. Then, at night humans can't learn anything cause of the internet.

Wonder what cows think about all day.

WHERE’S MY GRANT!!!

fin

Thursday, September 27, 2007

i knew Texas was big!!

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - NASA’s Dawn spacecraft rocketed away Thursday toward an unprecedented double encounter in the asteroid belt.
Scientists hope the mission will shed light on the early solar system by exploring the two largest bodies in the belt between Mars and Jupiter: an asteroid named Vesta and a dwarf planet the size of Texas named Ceres.