Chambered nautilus! Flying satellite! Supernova mystery! Cycad fossils! Ancient art! Geoengineering recognition! Black scientists! Mastodon extinction! And crazy birds think they can fly around with nail heads? That's crazy! It's your Monday Science Watch, where we watch science—explosively!
Pain measurement! Pyromania analysis! NASA rocket! Hefty bacteria! Galaxy shapes! Hot summer! Murderous bird! Flying snails! And scientists playing with hoses for fake experiments! It's your Wednesday Science Watch, where we watch science—in agony!
The Scottish government recently imported 14 sea eagles from Norway, to reintroduce the giant bird of prey into the wilds of Scotland. Unfortunately, they chose areas not quite wild enough, according to the Scottish Gamekeepers Association, which is calling for an inquiry into the feathered monsters with wingspans of up to eight feet:
Life lives! Bears menace! Phone cancer! Asteroid stowaways! Booby bullies! Lab dangers! Electron dancing! Neanderthal crowding! And dangerous health experiments that you can do at home! It's your Thursday Science Watch, where we watch science—on the road, baby!
Haven't you always wondered if mouth-to-beak resuscitation—"bird CPR"—would actually work? Well! We can confirm that, yes, in at least one instance it has: Bend, Ore. veterinarian Jeff Cooney saved a bald eagle (named, boringly, "Patriot") this week by performing CPR on it. Patriot, whom Dr. Cooney is rehabilitating from an apparent car accident, was under anesthesia at the time; KTVZ provides the image above, though we're not sure if the photograph is a staged re-creation of the event or an actual action shot of the heroic lifesaving attempt. Either way, it's good to know that, in the event that you come across a dying bird, you may have a shot at saving its life. [KTVZ]
Science! What would we do without you? Certainly we would never know the marvelous story of Tornatellides boeningi, the snail that can survive being eaten, digested, and pooped out by a bird.
We've seen this trick before, but something about Rio's dramatic, feathered head flick of death makes it even more adorable. Bonus: Rio's shooter kind of looks like Jeff Bridges.
A traveling geese herd, probably gabbing about last night's American Idol, were too noisy while making their way through town. Surprisingly, when told to pipe down, they immediately did.
Have you ever wondered if birds pee and not only just produce white poop? Watch the answer to this age old question at 600 frames per second.
Sometimes it takes a little while for things to sink in, like being bitten by a snake multiple times.
Police in Colombia have arrested a pigeon that was struggling to fly over the walls of Bucaramanga prison with 1.6 ounces of weed strapped to its back. A police commander called it "a new case of criminal ingenuity."
Here's a video of two cockatiels doing the nasty—but wait, that's not all! After all the bumpin' and grindin' is over with, one of the birds begins to whistle—what else?—"Whistle While You Work." But he's already done!
[A bird attacks a kite during the International Kite Festival in Ahmadabad, India today. Image via AP]
