Geek Weekly: She Blinded Me With Science

Image courtesy of Wired Science

‘Sup geeks?! How was your week? Did you have fun at Geekadelphia’s free concert at The Piazza?

So, local news first:

• Philly wins a sustainability award! So, we sort of have a bad rep with other large cities in America because we have wild sports fans and fat locals, apparently… but hey, we are on our way with technology initiatives for long-term sustainability, and that’s really cool.

In other news…

• As a young, attractive, charming, funny (modest…) gal, this study merely confirms my long-term suspicions after swimming in the Philadelphia dating pool: Neanderthals are among us. This Wired Science article gives a great breakdown of the latest news in evolutionary studies…

• What the what?! All life on Earth shares a single common ancestor, a new statistical analysis confirms. Microbiologist chatter has been secured that we don’t have a ‘tree’ of life, so much as a ‘web’… and that’s good to know, considering the study also noted that one universal common ancestor is at least 102,860 times more probable than having multiple ancestors. So get your Enya on, Geekadelphians, because we’re technically all one.

• Um, James Cameron develops camera for new Mars rover. Yes, you read that right. Despite all scientific knowledge to this point, Mars may actually be filled with blue people.

• I got a press release from the National Green Energy Council detailing the Cape Wind project — an offshore sustainable wind farm in New England. Hallelujah! The USA is finally working with the world’s elements, not against them.

• Quick! Add ‘genomic manipulation’ to your vocabulary because we’re a few short steps away from the first Cylon war with the creation of mostly synthetic cells. Kidding! Sort of… This NPR article is a bit more thorough.

That’s all, party people. Have a great weekend, and I hope to see you at Brave New Worlds for the Movement and Motion showing!

She Blinded Me With Science is a weekly column for Geekadelphia.com, brought to you by The Letter B. To submit a science tip, email bianca@geekadelphia.com