Wired has this story about a meteorite that nailed a parked car in Peekskill, New York on Oct 9 1992. The meteorite fragment which hit the car weighed 12kg on impact and according to the article was moving a shade over 10,000 km/h when it hit the car.

The car doesn’t look too bad in the pic, but apparently it was totaled.

National Geographic has this awesome graphic showing changes to world temperatures over the last 30 years. Everyone has heard about climate change and the fact that the Earth is warming. However, most people don’t realise just how complex the climate is, and that these changes are in no way uniform.

So many factors are involved and there are so many feedback loops that climate change is actually extremely complex and unpredictable. For instance, as you can see below, some parts of the world are cooling, some are warming.

The map below shows how these changes have also caused
unpredictable changes in rainfall. Some area’s are getting drier
(apparently Cape Town included although I wouldn’t have guesssed!) and
others wetter.

I should note here that because of normal variations and measuring details even these results could be misleading. Climate change is very complex, but the balance of evidence says:

1. Climate is changing for the warmer
2. We are driving this change

Check out this awesome photo from National Geographic of the first ever untethered space walk. This guy put a lot of trust in the little thrusters in his suit to get him back to the ship.

This must be an incredible feeling and view.

National Geographic reports on a study which suggests that birds can “see” the Earth’s magnetic field. From the article:

• Scientists have thought for years that migratory birds may use an internal compass to navigate between their nesting areas and wintering grounds.
• The new research helps explain how this natural compass may work.
• The finding strongly supports the hypothesis that migratory birds use their visual system to navigate using the magnetic field.

This would only allow the bird to know it’s direction, and not its position, so there must be more to it. Another study is also referenced suggesting that “birds may use magnetic crystals in their beaks to sense the intensity of the magnetic field and thus glean information on their physical location.”

Velociraptors are the intelligent, fast and vicious little buggers that caused all sorts of problems in the Jurassic Park movies. However, National Geographic writes that they probably weren’t much like their portrayal in the movies.

• There is now evidence that they had feathers, especially on their forearms
• They probably only weighed about 15kg

It seems like many of the two-legged dinos actually had feathers.

Wired describes this game showcased at their show NextFest. It’s an awesome idea – I’d love to try this.

The ball moves forward when competitors emit alpha and theta waves,
which are released only during relaxation. Players have to relax enough
to move the ball across the opponent’s goal to win.

National Geographic has this article about an insane wildebeest accident which caused the drowning of more than 10,000 animals. Every year during the migration hundreds of thousands of wildebeest must cross rivers. However, this huge herd stampeded into the river at a point where the opposite bank was too steep to climb.