Geology is what we look to when we want enduring monuments. Rock and metal outlast anything made of living tissue. Or do they? In another example of science getting poetic, it seems that a symbol of ephemera — a butterfly — provides evidence of a mountain long turned to dust.

Monarch butterflies are some of the toughest insects in the world. Their migration takes them from southern Canada to central Mexico. The journey is so long and difficult that it outlasts the butterfly’s lifetime. Monarchs lay eggs at different stages through the journey. No one generation makes the whole trip.

Along this journey are several sites that have become local treasures and tourist attractions. The monarchs, flying in swarms, group together to rest in small areas, covering the trees like bright orange leaves. But although these sites are the most showy part of the journey, they’re not the most amazing.

The amazing part of the journey is the sudden eastward turn that monarchs take over Lake Superior. Monarchs fly over the lake, necessarily, in one unceasing flight. That alone would be difficult, but the monarchs make it tougher by not going directly south. They fly south, and at one point of the lake turn east, fly for a while, and then turn back toward the south. Why?

Biologists, and certain geologists, believe that something was blocking the monarchs’ path. They believe that that part of Lake Superior might have once been one of the highest mountains ever to loom over North America. It would have been useless for the monarchs to try to scale it, and wasteful to start climbing it, so all successfully migrating monarchs veered east around it and then headed southward again. They’ve kept doing that, some say, even after the mountain is long gone.

This puts a new spin on how we look at geology and geography. We think of mountains as structures that are, nearly, ageless. They stand while successive generations of animals change and evolve around them. Perhaps not this time, though. This time, butterflies kept up their same pattern while the world changed under them, the mountain wearing away, or being destroyed. This time, flesh outlasted stone.

Via Pilgrim at Tinker Creek and The Journal of Experimental Biology.

[Esther Inglis-Arkell]
via Paul Turner http://io9.com/butterflies-remember-a-mountain-that-hasnt-existed-for-509321799

This fascinating time-lapse video shows nine months of the Mars Curiosity Rover digging and moving its way across the red planet, in just one minute. Unlike the typical Mars beauty shots, the video shows the rover actually getting its work done.

The Front Avoidance Hazard Cameras or “Hazcams” produce far less glamorous images than the wide panoramas and sweeping vistas provided by the mastcam or the robotic hand camera — but these daily black and white photos provide a view of what Curiosity is actually doing. Youtube user Karl Sanford collected the images from the left Hazcam from Aug. 8, 2012 to May 21, 2013 into a single video that shows Curiosity digging in and sampling the Martian soil along its journey. It is really interesting watching the rover leaving its mark on Mars with tread tracks and little holes.

The original images and views from the other hazcams can be seen at the Curiosity Rover website.

[Amanda Yesilbas]
via Paul Turner http://io9.com/watch-9-months-of-curiosity-on-mars-in-a-one-minute-tim-509581009

On April 11, 2013, at 3:16 a.m. EDT, the sun emitted an M6.5 flare, allowing NASA to capture this vibrant image. It’s not a particularly powerful solar flare, but it is the strongest of 2013 so far, and we’ll have plenty more opportunities to observe solar activity this year.

The sun is expected to reach the peak activity in its 11-year activity cycle in late 2013. When it reaches that peak, we could be seeing multiple solar flares in a single day, and witnessing the effects of the resulting coronal mass ejections right here on Earth. Head over to NASA to see higher resolution images of this particular flare and images of its resulting CME.

Spring Fling: Sun Emits a Mid-Level Flare [NASA via It's Okay to Be Smart]

[Lauren Davis]
via Paul Turner http://io9.com/a-breathtaking-image-of-this-years-strongest-solar-fla-472811226

Related articles

• Sun Slings Largest Solar Flare Yet: Coronal Mass Ejection Hurtles to Earth (scienceworldreport.com)
• Massive solar eruption could cause magnetic storm here on Earth (vineoflife.net)
• Solar Flare – M6 class with coronal mass ejection could cause minor electronic system impacts Friday or Saturday…. (fredw-catharsisours.blogspot.com)
• April 11 solar flare: More images and info (earthsky.org)

The post A breathtaking image of this year’s strongest solar flare so far appeared first on Musings Of A Mild Mannered Man.

Colin Farrell attending the premiere of Triage (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Ireland is famous for many things. As a proud Irish man myself, I’ve grown up with Riverdance, Sinead O’Connor’s numerous tabloid meltdowns, Guinness, the outdated stereotypes of leprechauns and pots of gold. Oh, and Irish men. Because you see, ain’t nobody can do it like an Irish boy.

by Wayne Powers | 15th April 2013

In the past we’ve swooned over Pierce Brosnan, Liam Neeson and more recently Colin Farrell, but theres a smouldering new pack of Emerald hunks about to take Hollywood by storm and set hearts aflutter. These 10 guys will want you wishing you had some Irish in you.

Perennial favourite Colin Farrell may be nearing 40, but the reformed bad boy remains one of Ireland’s sexiest exports. When Colin broke out nearly 10 years ago in films such as The Recruit and Phone Booth, he was quite simply the most beautiful man in the world. Colin has been through countless women and rehab, but seems to have settled now. And still looks great. Pure Irish hunk

An acquired taste perhaps, but anyone who has seen Michael’s stunning perfomances on Hunger or Shame, would know that the Kerryman is well, ahem, equipped. Fassbender has been on a steady rise to stardom the past few years. Smouldering, intense, Michael Fassbender is an intriguing proposition.

Like Colin Farrell, Jonathan Rhys Meyers has had his personal demons to battle with. He’s long been on e of Ireland’s finest actors. But it was his role on The Tudors that elevated him to new heights of stardom and sexiness. Stunning eyes, beautiful lips. And that bad boy edginess only adds to his enchanting appeal.

Currently starring in ABC’s Once Upon A Time, Colin is one of Ireland’s up and coming acting prospects. He’s already starred alongside Sir Anthony Hopkins in horror The Rites in 2011. He was also in line to play Superman in the new reboot but lost out to Henry Cavill. Dark, blue eyes and a brooding handsomeness, Colin O’Donoghue is certainly one to watch.

Padraic Delaney has long been one of my favourite Irish acting hunks. He got his kit off in The Tudors revealing a chiselled washboard stomach, muscly back and pert ass. That dimpled chin, broad shoulders. Padraic is pure Irish beef. Hope we see more of this gorgeous Wexford man on our screen soon.

Colin Morgan just screams boyfriend material. Fresh faced, cute, he is adorable. The Merlin heart throb is one of the most talented young actors from Ireland at the moment. Then theres his accent. Colin certainly has me spellbound

Even though Allen Leech is finally finding stardom as Downton Abbey’s Branson, I’ve been a huge fan of Allen for years. He first came to my attention in Irish movie Man About Dog in 2004 , before sending me aflutter in the raunchy Rome. Piercing brown eyes, boyish good looks, he can leech onto me anytime.

Jack Reynor is unquestionably Ireland;s hottest young Hollywood prospect right now. The Dublin actor is set to conquer Hollywood when he stars in the new Transformers movie next summer. Reynor looks set to follow in the footsteps of Colin Farrell. He’s already bagged himself a top acting award in Ireland , scooping the Irish equivalent of a BAFTA for his stunning performance in the fdark What Richard Did.

Jack was recently interviewed on Irelands top chat show The Late Late Show, coming across as both likeable and humble. Hes certainly got the looks and talent to be Irelands next big thing. Seriously, keep an eye out for Jack Reynor

Robert Sheehan has become a national treasure in Ireland for his acclaimed performance as Darren in the nations top rated tv show Love/Hate. He is one of the most beautiful and talented Irishmen right now. And probably the best actor. We fell in love with his curly perm as Nathan in Misfits. Smouldering, sexy, cheeky.

Jamie Dornan is sex. Pure sex. The 30 year old former beau of Keira Knightley has gotten his kit off numerous times over the years as a Calvin Klein model. He’s now moved into acting, with roles in Marie Antoinette and most notably starred in ABC’S Once Upon a Time. A body sculpted from the Gods, Jamie Dornan has long been a favourite of mine. Criminally beautiful. And not afraid to show us his impeccable sixpack and smooth ass. We can only hope Jamie wins some more high profile roles in which to show us his impressive physique

[TheGayUK]

Related articles

• Colin Farrell Honoured At Oscar Wilde Awards (contactmusic.com)
• Colin Farrell Honored at Oscar Wilde U.S.-Ireland Alliance Ceremony (reellifewithjane.com)
• Colin Farrell back on Irish soil to film ‘Miss Julie’ with Jessica Chastain (irishcentral.com)
• Colin Farrell: Pre-Oscars Oscar Wilde Irish Honoree! (justjared.com)

The post Top 10 Hottest Irish Actors, For The Craic… appeared first on Musings Of A Mild Mannered Man.

Within seconds after a bomb detonated during the Boston Marathon this morning, pictures, video and news of the horrific event were pulsing over social networks. And they weren’t exaggerations or FUD — these reports from people on the ground were the way most of us learned the truth.

On Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, and other social networks this morning, we discovered that bombs went off on the Boston Marathon route, killing two and injuring dozens more. More bombs may be in the JFK libraries (experts are calling the fire there unrelated). Many people were asking whether the attack was caused by terrorists, but few leapt to conclusions. Most people just wanted more information before passing judgment or succumbing to rumor.

Photo by Dan Roan

One of the most cherished beliefs of news media hounds is that the slide into social media news will leave us mired in rumors, bad information, and propaganda. But today’s ongoing tragedy in Boston has revealed that the future of news may not be as dark as pundits imagined. Information flowed quickly out of Boston, coupled occasionally with rumors but more often with good advice. From Twitter:

BOSTON POLICE IS REQUESTING THAT ALL SOCIAL MEDIA PAGES TO TELL PEOPLE TO GET OUT OF THE AREA OF THE MARATHON ROUTE. DO NOT STICK AROUND

— N.E. Alerts (@NEincidents) April 15, 2013

This was retweeted over a hundred times.

The police reached out to citizens for information, too:

BPD asking for tips #tweetfromthebeat via @cherylfiandaca

— Boston Police Dept. (@Boston_Police) April 15, 2013

Acting like reporters, ordinary citizens gathered information to share. Again, from Twitter:

Just called MGH – they have enough blood on hand for the tragedy today, but will need blood later this week to replenish. #boston

— Amanda Soehnlen (@asoehnlen) April 15, 2013

The memes that quickly emerged from the event involved the sharing of photos and questions about how to reach loved ones when cell coverage was down in large parts of the Boston Area. Google immediately set up a “person finder” system for posting and finding information about specific people.

While major news outlets covered the casualties, and law enforcement’s efforts to locate more bombs, citizens reached out to each other with the best factual information they could find. Some wanted reassurance. Others wanted to be sure we understood this event in a global context:

For those offering prayers, remember the 37 people killed and 140 injured in an explosion in Iraq today: nytimes.com/2013/04/16/wor…

— Michael Cohen (@speechboy71) April 15, 2013

This is not a situation where social media news has led to mob sentiments taking over. People have been fact checking in real time, and trying to figure out the truth of the situation. There is room for outpourings of emotion, and room for analysis.

I don’t mean to gloss over the problems. There have been vicious, incorrect memes, trollish jokes, and people being shamed for wanting to focus on other topics in order to feel better. But the overwhelming reaction to this terrifying event — which still isn’t over — has made the future of news seem a lot less terrifying than it did even a few weeks ago. Bloggers have been correcting misinformation about the bombers, and Boston locals are trying to figure out ways to house the runners who can’t get back to their hotels tonight:

BOSTON: if you’re stuck downtown, go to Make Shift Boston at 549 Columbus Ave. and ready to open our doors to anyone who needs anything:

— Jaclyn Friedman (@jaclynf) April 15, 2013

Knowing more about what’s happening to our neighbors is inspiring compassion, rather than craziness. If there’s any kernel of hope that comes out of today’s events, it should be for the future of citizen-driven news. Our social media networks may be maturing into trusted sources of news.

[Annalee Newitz]
via Paul Turner http://io9.com/why-the-boston-marathon-bomb-gives-us-hope-for-the-futu-473037383

The post How the Boston Marathon tragedy revealed the best side of social media appeared first on Musings Of A Mild Mannered Man.

The evolution of cities may be a lot weirder than you think. Instead of sprawls, they may become ultra-high density constructions that look more like one gigantic building. Here are some incredible plans for buildings that will one day be metropolises.

Vertical Urban Sprawl (by Jake Murray, 2010)

Above, you can see a work of speculative concept design showing how cities might evolve.

(via DeviantArt)

Crystal Island (designed by Norman Foster for Moscow, 2007)

The 1,476 ft (450 m) high structure doesn’t want to be the highest, but it has a “second skin” to shield the structure from Moscow’s weather and could minimize the winter heat loss. The complex would use renewable energy sources. It will be completed in 2014, according to the original plans, but due to the global economic crisis the whole project was postponed.

(via Wikimedia Commons and demyment)

Dubai City Tower or Dubai Vertical City (designed by Meraas Holding, 2008)

If ever constructed, the 7874 ft (2400m) high building will have 400 habitable stories and a 1312 ft (400m) high energy-producing spire on the top. The main elevator will be a really fast one, it could travel local inhabitants with an amazing 125 mph (201 km/h) speed. The energy will come from renewable sources including wind, thermal and solar energy.

(via Wall Street Pit)

The Shimizu Mega-City Pyramid (over Tokyo Bay, Japan, designed by Dante Bini and David Dimitric in 2003)

It would be 14 times higher than the Great Pyramid at Giza – 6574 ft or 2004 m – and would house almost one million people. The structure would be composes of 204 smaller pyramids on eight layers.

Left: high-rise residential building, right: a skyscraper for offices.

(via Wikimedia Commons, Geekwidget and the Project’s Site)

X-SEED 4000 (near Tokyo, Japan, designed by Taisei Construction Corporation and Peter Neville, 1995)

A 13,150 feet high (4000 m) skyscraper that could house one million people.

(via skyscrapercity)

Tokyo Tower of Babel (designed by Toshio Ojima/Waseda University, 1992)

If the construction begin, it took 100 to 150 years to complete this unbelievably high (32,808 ft or 10,000 m) tower, and it could cost about $306 trillion. It’s big enough to 30 million people live inside.

(via Japanese Wikipedia, Skyscraper Page and Tower Ten)

Ultima Tower (Eugene Tsui, 1991)

This 10,560 ft high (3,218.7 m) tower would cost US$150 billion and would have a huge, 6000 ft (1,828.8 m) diameter at the base. One million people would live here on 500 stories.

(via Tsui Design)

Sea City 2000 (1979)

(via Paleo-Future)

Burj Dubai’s Inspiration: Mile High Illinois or The Illinois (described by Frank Lloyd Wright, 1956)

It would have included 528 stories and nearle twice as tall (5,280 ft or 1,610 m without the antenna spire) as the Burj Khalifa. The famous architect began planning this in the 1920s, but only described in his 1956 book A Testament.

(via Fabiofeminofantascience)

What We Are Coming To (1895, Grant E. Hamilton for the Judge Magazine)

This city has its own railway system, school, telephone exchange, armory, theatre, saloon, fire department, meat market and everything that a usual settlement has.

(via Paleofuture)

[Vincze Miklós]
via Paul Turner http://io9.com/these-futuristic-cities-are-housed-inside-a-single-gig-472987873

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• Inventing a skyscraper console: How a professor is bringing Pong to Philadelphia’s Cira Centre (polygon.com)
• Kyoto and Tokyo: Two Contrasting Cities (jimosmondwilliams.wordpress.com)
• The World’s Tallest Tower by Nikken Sekke (archieli.com)

The post These futuristic cities are housed inside a single, gigantic building appeared first on Musings Of A Mild Mannered Man.

Magnetic putty is on the prowl again, but this time its terrifying powers can be seen in this stunning new hi-def video put together by FX artist Joey Shanks.

As we’ve shown you before, magnetic putty — that is, putty embedded with millions of micron-sized ferromagnetic particles — bursts to life when placed near an object that generates a strong magnetic field. And it absolutely will not stop until the object of its desire has been completely engulfed on all sides.

You can purchase magnetic putty here.

It’s important to remember that these shots were sped-up to account for the magnetic putty’s agonizingly slow rate of advance, but the effect is stunning nonetheless. According to Shanks, the clips were exported at 48 fps, and some at 96 fps.

These latest clips were pulled from the recent film short SCI-FLY, a product of PBS Digital Studios and Shanks FX.

H/t Colossal.

[George Dvorsky]
via Paul Turner http://io9.com/new-magnetic-putty-video-hypnotizes-as-much-as-it-horri-473174809

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• Watch this magnetic silly putty devour a rare-earth magnet (io9.com)

The post New magnetic putty video hypnotizes as much as it horrifies appeared first on Musings Of A Mild Mannered Man.

The beautiful men of the Warwick University Rowing Club are back with a 55-minute behind-the-scenes look at the making of their super popular and super steamy calendar.

And it is everything.

In case you need a reminder, these are the super fine gentlemen of the Warwick University Rowing Club and stars of the 2014 Warwick Rowing men’s calendar.

Twitter: @naked_rowers

For the fifth year in a row, the rowing team has stripped down for the club’s calendar, donating a portion of the proceeds to their charity, Sport Allies, which fights homophobia and bullying.

Twitter: @naked_rowers

The rowing team will launch Sport Allies with help from the UK charity EACH (Educational Action Challenging Homophobia), along with funding from the calendar. According to the project, “The efforts aims to support young people to define and express themselves, particularly in relation to their sexuality, without fear of prejudice.”

And this year’s calendar was a massive success… the first print selling out in just three weeks.

Twitter: @naked_rowers

And NOW, just in time for the holidays…

Twitter: @naked_rowers

The fine gentleman of the Warwick Rowing Club are releasing a 55-minute behind-the-scenes look at the making of the whole thing…

I REPEAT: FIFTY-FIVE MINUTES OF ALL OF THIS GETTIN’ MADE. FOR CHARITY.

Which means this naked behind-the-scenes giggling is all for good.

This naked ball holding in a field is all for stopping bullying.

And whatever is happening here… is happening for a very good, totally fine reason.

Plus, there’s a whole lotta naked interviewing in the bushes.

Naked sittin’ in boats.

Twitter: @naked_rowers

Naked sittin’ NEXT to boats.

Naked sittin’ on a pile of hay.

Naked checkin’ one another out and rubbing.

All for a good cause.

FOR CHARITY.

So you can watch all 55 minutes of this and not feel guilty at all because you’re HELPING.

THIS IS IMPORTANT.

THIS IS ALL FOR SOMETHING GOOD.

IT’S FINE TO WATCH IT OVER AND OVER.

Also, you’ll get to hear them speak in their beautiful British accents while they squirt one another in the face with water bottles.

And there’s a dog.

And a whole lotta well-intentioned nakedness.

Twitter: @naked_rowers

And, if you really need one last reason, there are butts.

The Warwick Rowers: Bigger, Longer & Uncut from Progressive Media on Vimeo

The post The Naked British Rowing Team Strips Down Again For A Whole Movie To Fight Homophobia appeared first on Musings Of A Mild Mannered Man.

Harvard astronomer Avi Loeb has just published a paper about how life might have flourished when our 13.8-billion-year-old universe was a mere 15 million years old. Back then, the whole universe was warmer — which means liquid water could exist even on planets that were distant from their stars.

Writes Loeb in the abstract for the paper:

In the redshift range 100<(1+z)<110, the cosmic microwave background (CMB) had a temperature of 273-300K (0-30 degrees Celsius), allowing early rocky planets (if any existed) to have liquid water chemistry on their surface and be habitable, irrespective of their distance from a star. In the standard LCDM cosmology, the first star-forming halos within our Hubble volume started collapsing at these redshifts, allowing the chemistry of life to possibly begin when the Universe was merely 15 million years old. The possibility of life starting when the average matter density was a million times bigger than it is today argues against the anthropic explanation for the low value of the cosmological constant.

Though we often think of the early universe as inhospitable, Loeb notes that if rocky planets existed, it would have been a great time to live on them. No matter where they were in the universe, they would have been bathed in constant warmth, with no need to depend on a star for energy. And the warmth would have made surface water a liquid, too, which would help life as we know it to develop.

Read more at io9

Annalee Newitz

The post Was the early universe a better environment for life to evolve? appeared first on io9

Related articles

• Was the early universe a better environment for life to evolve?
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• Series on Axions, Part 5: Axions, Dark Matter, and Cosmic Strings
• Mystery of the first stars deepens
• Complex scalar field dark matter on galactic scales [CEA]
• Planck space telescope retires from observing the early universe Alt

The post Was the early universe a better environment for life to evolve? appeared first on Musings Of A Mild Mannered Man.

It may not look anything like Avatar‘s Pandora or Jedi‘s Endor, but if verified, it could be the first moon ever discovered outside our solar system. Located 1,800 light years away, it’s a large moon orbiting a planet four times the size of Jupiter. But strangely, the duo isn’t even remotely close to a star.

To make the discovery, David Bennett of the University of Notre Dame, Indiana, and colleagues used a technique that’s not often used to detect exoplanets. It’s called gravitational micro-lensing, an optical phenomenon where light emanating from a distant object gets warped and distended by the gravity of another nearby object. This warping can create a magnification effect, making celestial objects, like planets and galaxies, easier to find. And now, owing to this latest discovery, it can also help us find moons as well.

Back in 2011, Bennett’s team spotted a micro-lensing event that amplified the brightness of a star by a factor of 70 times. An hour later they observed a second event, this one much smaller. The astronomers interpreted this as a large object passing in front of the star, followed by a smaller one.

They posited two explanations: Either it’s a moon orbiting a planet, or it’s a brown dwarf (a kind of planet that doesn’t have quite what it takes to be a star) orbited by a Neptune-mass planet. But after performing Bayesian calculations on the data, the astronomers had to admit that the “most likely” explanation is the planet/moon hypothesis.

If the system consists of a planet and a moon, however, it’s a strange one, indeed. First, the pair is adrift in space. The star that was used to detect the micro-lensing event is far, far away. Now, rogue planets do exist, but if confirmed this would be the first one discovered to have a moon; and in fact, this pair might actually be two planets that were ejected from a tumultuous star system, likely a binary system. That said, this observation would seem to add credence to the brown dwarf theory — but the hard data suggests otherwise.

Second, the moon, which is about half the size of Earth (which is huge by moon standards), orbits its host planet at an extreme distance — about 20 million kilometres out. Contrast this with Jupiter’s largest moon, Ganymede, which is about 1 million kilometres out.

Sadly, we may never learn the truth. Gravitational micro-lensing doesn’t lend itself very well for detecting repeat events.

Read more at io9.

The post Astronomers May Have Just Discovered the First Exomoon appeared first on io9.

Related articles

• A Sub-Earth-Mass Moon Orbiting a Gas Giant Primary or a High Velocity Planetary System in the Galactic Bulge [EPA]
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• Exomoons Around Alien Planets May Be Too Small for Life
• Extraterrestrial Life
• Alien Moons –’Habitable Hotspot’ Prospects in New Kepler Mission Data (Today’s Most Popular)
• Runaway greenhouse effect on exomoons due to irradiation from hot, young giant planets [EPA]

The post Astronomers May Have Just Discovered the First Exomoon appeared first on Musings Of A Mild Mannered Man.