by JB Sanders<\/p>\n
Victorian Lego mansions<\/a><\/Strong><\/p>\n And because this is Halloween Month, they’re haunted and abandoned. Yeah, that’s right — haunted LEGO houses.<\/p>\n Suburban life, 4000 years ago<\/a><\/Strong><\/p>\n See computer reconstructions of a town from the Bronze Age, which looks remarkably suburban to our modern eyes. <\/p>\n Chocolate Like You’ve Never Tasted<\/a><\/Strong><\/p>\n I don’t mean that euphemistically, because these are varieties of the cocoa bean that have been discovered in the Amazonian jungles of Peru. One of the varieties was recently developed by a Swiss chocolatier who sold them for $60\/pound. And the reason it’s on the Geeky News? Scientists are sequencing the plant DNA and plotting the mineral contents of the soil where the varieties grow to figure out what makes them taste different.<\/p>\n Megavirus<\/a><\/Strong><\/p>\n That’s something you want see in a headline, isn’t it? Real news story, thankfully not as movie-of-the-week as that sounds. <\/p>\n Black Death Decoded<\/a><\/Strong><\/p>\n Speaking of tiny malicious organisms, scientists have sequenced the genome of the strain of the Black Death (y-pestis) that killed 50 million people back in the 1300’s. Hopefully to better understand it, and not to ransom the world for 1 billion dollars.<\/p>\n Things Science Fiction Films Have Ruined for John Scalzi<\/a><\/Strong><\/p>\n Always an amusing author, this time about things scifi films have ruined for him.<\/p>\n The Aurora Borealis Never Looked Better<\/a><\/Strong><\/p>\n So there’s this hotel in Finland that will rent you this cute little cabin specially designed for star-gazing and seeing the Aurora Borealis. Why are they perfect for it? Because they’re geodesic domed “cabins” made of thermal glass (remember, this is Finland, it’s a wee chill).<\/p>\n It’s Back to the, er, Past<\/a>?<\/Strong><\/p>\n The DeLorean Car Company is releasing an electric car in 2013. Yes, a gull-winged, all-electric vehicle. No, it’s not powered by fusion. Not yet, anyway.<\/p>\n Actual Hobbit House, Minus Hobbits<\/a><\/Strong><\/p>\n It’s an off-the-grid, semi-buried, earth-friendly house in Wales. Not exactly a hobbit house, but strongly similar. Looks pretty cool, too.<\/p>\n It’s a Game AND Science!<\/Strong><\/p>\n Protein folding is part of bimolecular science trying to figure out the ideal structures of proteins, and it has possible applications to all sorts of things — HIV\/AIDs research, cancer cures, Alzheimer’s. So instead of throwing a fancy screensaver at the problem (ala SETI@home), some clever bunch have come up with a game, and are letting smart-ass gamers find the best folding strategies. That’s right, it’s a video game where winning means curing cancer!
\nDetails and science here:<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n