Category Archives: Research

How many times have you heard “The medium is the message”? It’s kind of poetic. And since it’s attributed to eminent media critic Marshall McLuhan you find a way for it to make sense.

Then today I read an e-mail (below) explaining that he never said that and his real message is “the medium is the massage”. The media work us over, the way we perceive the world.

So I’m believing this guy. Taking the Internet medium as authoritative. This guy made a case, he did research. It’s so exciting to think that everyone on the outside is wrong, ignorant.

Yet, ironically, this medium massaged me. The mythology of the Internet and the influence of its participants have shaped the way I perceived that e-mail.

When, in fact, the medium is the message.
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“Scientists” have “linked a mysterious, underwater farting sound to bubbles coming out of a herring’s anus.” They call it Fast Repetitive Tick (FRT) and hypothesize that it’s how shoals keep together after dark.

You know you wanna hear it.

Full article from New Scientist.

So be careful when you fart in the ocean; you may confuse a little herring into losing its momma.

Quick, what’s the oldest human custom? Picking your teeth. I said custom, not profession.

New Scientist: Grass stalks fit bill for earliest toothpicks
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Well said.

New clues to identity of first genetic molecule

But researchers could at least explore whether TNA-based biology is feasible. “Szostak could evolve a TNA world,” says Eschenmoser.

A TNA world? Isn’t that a male fantasy?

But seriously, evolving a TNA biosphere would be historic. It would show us just how easy it is for life to spring forth from matter, adding one more notch to the belt for evolution and making extraterrestrial life that much more likely.