Ways for the World to End

Will it be enveloped in trash, or demolished by asteroids?

By M. Farbman Posted 12.04.2008 at 12:02 pm 2 Comments

Meteor Crater U.S. Geological Survey

Plus, in today's links: Filming the immune system, storing memories and more.

The good news: a proposal to implant microchips in some HIV-positive people is likely NOT to pass in Indonesia. The bad news: somebody dreamed up the idea and it got this far.
I think we've all by now seen too many instances of bodily functions dramatized on film -- think the rushing blood in Requiem for a Dream. My first reaction to reading that scientists have filmed a parasitic infection spreading through a body was, haven't we seen that already? But it sounds pretty neat -- if only there was a link to the video.
Speaking of movies, if Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind creeped you out, findings that suggest memories are stored by changes to DNA may give you the willies, too.
This story about the world's monstrously large garbage dumps may make you take up using a handkerchief, just to decrease your own output by at least a few boxes of Kleenex. Fun fact: two huge landfills in Michigan are called Carleton Farms and Pine Tree Acres. Ha!

And in case you need any more thoughts of planetary disasters to keep you up at night, space experts say we need a scientific and political consensus on a plan for preventing asteroids from hitting the earth. Perhaps we could set up a system that will direct any incoming disasters right toward one of those garbage dumps, taking care of two problems at once.

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2 Comments

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jtwood

12/04/08 at 3:21 pm

Just a little heads up, it's not "Infinite Sunshine..." it's "Eternal Sunshine..." Also, it crossed my mind about a week ago that DNA might change a little as you get older, allowing for your experiences to, in some way, be imparted to your children. It's really cool to find out that I might have been right.

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jtsan

12/06/08 at 2:10 am

this is so cool

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