[Josh Keyes via Nerdcore]

National Geographic photographer Martin Oeggerli took a series of gorgeous, and (oddly) recognizably sexual photographs of pollen in action. In this gallery - and many other photographs of his in the National Geographic gallery - you can see how the plant sexual cycle works. From feather-borne pollen to a piece of pollen that is growing a sperm injector, every kind of flower smut is represented.

You can see more of Oeggerli's work on his website.

via National Geographic (thanks, Marilyn Terrell!)

Geranium
Flowering quince
Forget Me Not
Indian mallow - this pollen shape is designed to stick to bird wings.
Pine
Snowball blossom - pollen has fallen into the stigma of another snowball blossom, and the pollen is swelling with water. One pollen grain is growing a tube that can inject sperm into the flower.
Willow - this piece of pollen will die, because it got trapped between two petals before pollenating anything.

The Blackout
One thing I love more than "versus" movies (man versus beast, beast versus monster, monster versus monster versus man) is holiday themed horror flicks. And The Blackout has both. It's monsters versus humans pegged with a Christmas Eve time stamp. The official synopsis is:

When an apartment building's lights go out mysteriously, all of the tenants put aside their problems and band together to get to the bottom of the city-wide blackout. Deep in the basement of the high-rise, a hideous breed of monster hatches and begins to wreak havoc. Everyone must find a way to kill the blood-thirsty creatures and survive the darkness before it destroys the world.

Here's the poster...


For release dates check out the official site.

Gladiators V. Werewolves: Edge of Empire
Here is some bananas concept art from Rob Green's werewolf flick. No one is cast in it, but it's supposed to be released in 2010. I think we all know what it's about...

Synopsis:

The film takes place in Roman occupied Britain, where captured werewolves are pitted against the land's best warriors in Gladiatorial games. But the werewolves are far more cunning then they let on, as they are using the games to infect and turn their enemies into their own werewolf army.

Here's some additional art, check out Geek Tryant for even more.

Ice

Vampire Bill is getting into the disaster porn spirit. The makers of the Day of The Triffids are coming out with another TV Movie titled Ice starring Stephen Moyer and we're really really really hoping he plays a scientist who know the world is about to end but no one will believe him. Joining him is Claire Forlani, Ben Cross, Petrick Bergin, Simon Callow and Sam Neill (hooray Jurassic Park).

Official Synopsis:

It is 2020. Findings by environmental scientist Professor Thom Archer suggest that Halo, the corporate energy company drilling on the Greenland Glacier are causing it to melt. Archer's warnings are ignored, so he heads to the Arctic to find indisputable evidence. Upon arrival, he realizes humankind is under immediate threat, and races home to save his family. The glacier collapses, with devastating consequences. Astonishing weather patterns emerge and plunge the world's temperatures into steep decline.

It's currently filming, come on VAMPIRE SCIENTIST BILL.

Shorts:

Ataque de Pánico (Panic Attack):

Here's a quickie short from Uruguay. Created by Federico Álvarez and Mauro Rondán, see what happens when giant robots are set lose on their home town. The entire thing is below and it took two years to complete, well done!

[Via Scifi Latino]

Singing Head Band

This is what all beat boxing should be like. All of it. Check out Neurosonics Audiomedical Laboratory footage.

Neurosonics Audiomedical Labs Inc. from Chris Cairns on Vimeo.

FISH!

It's been a while since I posted some sexy nature-centric news over here. And while looking for new inspirational animal friendly films to watch at 3 AM, I found this beauty. This is Kuroshio Sea the 2nd largest aquarium tank in the world, which is in Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium, Japan.

The main tank called the "Kuroshio Sea" holds 7,500-cubic meters (1,981,290 gallons) of water and features the world's second largest acrylic glass panel, measuring 8.2 meters by 22.5 meters with a thickness of 60 centimeters. Whale sharks and manta rays are kept amongst many other fish species in the main tank.

Do yourself a favor and watch it in HD. The song is "Please Don't Go" from Barcelona.

Kuroshio Sea - 2nd largest aquarium tank in the world - (song is Please don't go by Barcelona) from Jon Rawlinson on Vimeo.

In a paper published in Nature this week, a group of scientists explain that boreal forests emit hydrocarbons called "volatile monoterpene compounds," some of which cause the distinct smell of a pine forest. These are all basically particles that float into the clouds, and interact with ozone and other compounds to form small, semi-liquid droplets called cloud condensation nucleii (CCN). The key here is that monoterpene causes more of these CCN droplets to form, which are what make the clouds so reflective. Essentially, it's just sunlight reflecting off water held together with other chemicals.

So if these giant pine forests are always emitting so many monoterpenes, why would the Earth ever warm up? The problem is a compound that comes from deciduous trees and other vegetation called isoprene. Isoprene cancels out monoterpene, and causes fewer of those reflective droplets to form. As the climate changes, it's likely we'll see more of the kinds of plants that make isoprene, and fewer that make monoterpene.

The obvious solution is geoengineering. Why not synthesize a reasonable quantity of monoterpenes and seed the clouds with them? It's a naturally-occurring chemical which would normally float up to the clouds anyway. And it would encourage the production of reflective droplets in our cloud cover, thus reflecting back more sunlight and lowering temperatures.

Either that, or let's start boreal farms whose sole purpose is cloud engineering.

via Nature

Photo by peterkelly

According to the UK Guardian, a local Bulgarian group called For the Nature is organizing protests against what architect Norman Foster is calling the Black Sea Gardens. Says the Guardian's Kate Connolly:

[The protesters] say it will destroy the Black Sea coast's last remaining virgin stretches of beach and will have a devastating effect on the rich biodiversity of an area which has environmental protection status under the EU's Natura 2000 programme, which aims to protect endangered species and habitats.

But the Bulgarian government's failure to enact regulations outlawing extensive developments in such areas has allowed coastal constructions to go ahead almost unhindered. Now there is hardly a stretch of the country's 220-mile coastline untouched by overdeveloped resorts. Locals are often restricted from accessing beaches whose entrances are flanked by security guards.

Why doesn't Norman Foster work on making the existing resorts in Bulgaria carbon-neutral instead? Image via Bulgaria4UK.

Bulgarian Eco Town the Biggest Mistake of Norman Foster's Career [via Guardian]

Don't expect giant machines that can purify the atmosphere or nanotech that can reverse global warming just yet. The U.S. government has yet to approve the fledgling agency which would unify several independent researchers and university labs with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). Basically, it would be an Earth-monitoring super-group whose goals are to research and solve humanity's crimes against the biosphere.

USGS director Charles Grote, who is helping to put the group together, isn't quite as grandiose when explaining the ESSA's mission:

The USGS, in bringing not only its geologic, biologic, hydrologic and geospatial expertise to the understanding of natural systems, but also its research capabilities in energy, mineral, water, and biologic resources, gives the new organization a comprehensive perspective on both environmental and resource systems. If we effectively link these capabilities with those of NOAA, we will have a powerful research institution

But David Rejeski, former member of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, is thinking bigger:

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has demonstrated the value of funding high-risk, high-reward research and development. ESSA should foster similar ventures in the environmental arena.

Given the kinds of projects that have come out of DARPA, including the internet and swarm robots, Rejeski is clearly hoping for giant robots who can cool down the oceans or clean up chemical spills. That's what we're hoping for too.

Earth Systems Science Agency, we have a planetary emergency! Help us before it's too late!

Image from Earth Sons.

Organizing an Earth Systems Science Agency [Nature via Eurekalert]

USA Today, New Scientist, the awesome astronomy blog Bad Astronomy and the BBC and Nature and just about every sciency news outlet all have items devoted to the centennial. But they disagree on what the Tunguska Event was. USA Today calls it an "impact,' but Bad Astronomy says "air blast" and says there's no evidence anything hit the ground. New Scientist has posted a video in which their reporter circles Lake Cheko nearby the blast site in a helicopter and speculates whether it's the smoking gun of an impact.

What's going on here? Tunguska is probably the most heavily studied impact/air blast/space rock encounter on Earth and we know almost nothing about how it happened. It's also hard to say how likely it is that it will happen again, though one scientist's guess isn't comforting:

In terms of risk to Earth, astronomer David Morrison of NASA's Ames Research Center says a Tunguska-magnitude strike could happen once every two centuries and a bigger impact, a "civilization-threatening" million-megaton strike, could happen once every 2 million years. Even though astronomers have spotted more of these nearby asteroids in the last two decades, the estimated odds of an impact have actually declined, as Morrison notes in a May issue of NEO News, his asteroid newsletter.

If Morrison's right, we've got at best another century to learn as much as we can from Tunguska before another similar event hits home — maybe less. And in the mean time, we'll have plenty of close calls reminding us that we are basically sitting ducks unless we start doing something about one of the greatest threats to our survival as a civilization.

Four-fifths of all respondents in the Nature poll (not just the pill-poppers) thought people should be allowed to take these pills if they wanted to.

It's interesting to compare these results with those from an annual study done by the National Coffee Association, which reports that 1 in 5 people in the U.S. drinks espresso drinks. They also have a fascinating chart, similar to the chart done for the Nature study, showing what percentage of people drank coffee the day before the survey, and breaking down the answers by age. You can see that recreational coffee use is rampant — up to 70 percent of people drank coffee within the last 24 hours in 2007.

And yet coffee is a crappier stimulant than Ritalin or Provigil, with lots of bad side-effects. So the lesson here? Scientists get the good shit, and the rest of us are left clutching a shakes-inducing mug of Starbucks. Charts via Nature and the National Coffee Association.

Poll Results: Look Who's Doping [Nature]

Monday, there's a new Kyle XY at 9 on ABC Family. A social worker takes an unfortunate interest in Kyle. Here's a clip:

On Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, John Connor gets separated from his mom and Summer Glau's Terminator, and makes an unfortunate discovery about the future. That's on Fox at 9. By coincidence, FX is showing Terminator 3 starting around 7.

Tuesday would be a good night to go out. Or rent some DVDs. Or just read a good book. There's probably at least one Iain M. Banks book you haven't read yet.

Wednesday, Moviemax is showing Aliens at 12:25. And Cinemax has The Astronaut Farmer at 7. I think it's about a guy who grows astronauts, using nutrient baths and genetic engineering. And AMC has Planet of the Apes at 6:30.

Thursday at 8 PM, there's a new Smallville. Chloe "runs afoul" of the Black Canary, who looks like she's trying out for a Pat Benatar video. Here's an unfinished clip:

And then at 9 PM, there's a new Lost. Some strangers show up on the island. Do they have mysterious backstories? Will there be flashbacks, or flash-forwards? You'll just have to tune in and find out. Here's a sneak peek:

Friday has the season finale of Flash Gordon on Sci Fi at 8. Flash is finally coming out to his fellow foolish Earthlings about his visits to Mongo, but will anybody believe him? Will Ming finally cackle, just a little? Come on: you're a little curious, aren't you?

And then there's a new Stargate: Atlantis at 9. McKay, Keller and Carter are trapped in an underground chamber on an alien world, with no apparent means of escape. Here's a promo trailer:

Also, there's a new Masters of Horror on TMC at 8:35. A housewife and her daughter go on the run when a virus turns men into psycho-killers who only target women. This actually sounds sort of cool, but wasn't it also the plot of an Angel episode, minus the virus?

Saturday, there's another new Torchwood on BBC America at 9. (You can read our spoilery recap here.) Also, at 11 PM, Encore has Repo Man.

Sunday, your local PBS station should have a new Nature, detailing the crazy love affair between the horseshoe crab and the red-knot shorebird, which have been giving each other passionate pinches and pecks for 350 million years. Will humans mess up this delicate ecosystem? The suspense is probably killing you.

And the National Geographic channel has a new documentary at 9, Six Degrees That Could Change The World. Narrated by Alec Baldwin, this show explores just how horribly a rise of six degrees Celsius in the world's temperature would affect life on Earth. It also dips into some possible solutions. If you can stand to listen to Alec Baldwin being stentorian and serious for two hours, it sounds like a worthwhile watch. Here's a super scary clip:

Images by Ilkka Halso

Ilkka Halso via The Aesthetic Poet

In the case of this new study, published recently in Nature, scientists were able to deliver tiny snippets of RNA to brain cells that "interfered" with genes that were malfunctioning and forming tumors. Virus shell drug delivery is particularly cool because the shells can go beyond the blood-brain barrier right into the cell. Most conventional drugs rely on blood vessels to get to the right spot, which is a problem if you're trying to reach an area that isn't easily accessed by blood vessels, or is only served by extremely tiny ones that may not be big enough to admit drug molecules.

Using rabies to deliver drugs to the brain [BoingBoing]

Two neuroscience experts interviewed in Nature, Barbara Sahakian and Sharon Morein-Zamir, talked about mind performance-enhancing drugs for healthy people who aren't suffering from disorders like ADHD or Alzheimers. They say:

In academia, we know that a number of our scientific colleagues in the United States and the United Kingdom already use modafinil to counteract the effects of jetlag, to enhance productivity or mental energy, or to deal with demanding and important intellectual challenges.

And, apparently, so are professors.

Professor's little helper [Nature Commentary]

This chart, from study #1, shows how your carbon footprint grows when you divorce. The purple (naughty) line are divorced households and their energy use. The blue (nice) lines are families that stayed married. See how divorce makes you an evil oil-guzzling ho?

Global Warming Could Lead to Increased Severe Thunderstorms [PNAS] Storm image courtesy of Karen A. Kosiba.

The Environmental Impact of Divorce [PNAS]