Friday, December 19, 2008

Another Feat!

When doctors performed a standard MRI scan on three-day old Sam Esquibel, they were definitely not ready for what they would find. What looked like a microscopic brain tumor forming, was actually a nearly perfectly formed foot and partial formation of another foot, a hand, and a thigh. A case like this has been given the name "foetus in foetu", which is a twin beginning to form within its sibling, and is rarely seen.

Mr Dominic Thompson, a consultant paediatric neurosurgeon at London's Great Ormond Street Hospital, said there were probably less than 100 recorded cases of foetus in foetu in the medical literature. Sam was operated on without any problems, and all that is remaining of this little foot, is a little scar.

Feat For Fish

It started in Turkey thousands of years ago, moved to eastern Asia after that, and is currently sweeping through North American spas as the new hot format for pedicures. People dip their feet into tanks of warm water containing many baby-carp. Due to the lack of vegetation in water of such a high temperature, the fish do not have many options when it comes to their feeding habits. At the sight of two fresh human feat, they begin their feast. Since they have no teeth, they target all the dead skin they can find, and provide spa clients with a very natural method for exfoliation.

Welcome Millkit!

Scientists in Argentina have found ways to make cows produce more milk, through injections of bovine growth hormone produced by genetically modified dairy cows. Also known as rbST, synthetic bovine somatotropin is not a newly developed product used for injection, however this team of scientists claim that their method is cheaper and produces a natural bovine hormone.

The head of research and development at biotechnology firm Bio Sidus, Andres Bercivich, explained that if under normal circumstances a cow produces 20 liters of milk/day, it could produce 25 liters when injected with this hormone. When looking at one cow, it might not seem like much, but convert that statistic to the output levels at huge milk firms, an increase of 25% will equal a huge jump in profits.

The company plans to export the dairy hormone technology to the United States, Mexico, Peru, and Brazil, as this product has not yet been approved for sale in Argentina.

Now I will take this opportunity to introduce a new member to Markit Science team: the one and only Millkit

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Meteorite Spotted + Found!


The fireball seen in the video above was captured by a peace officer's dashboard cam in Devon, Alberta, providing an excellent account of this event. The meteorite fall occurred on 2008 November 20 at 5:26.42 MST. It was seen by thousands of people across the Canadian prairies, sparking a wide range of reactions from sheer awe to fear and panic.

Thousands of meteorites are expected to have rained down over a 20 square km area, but they were difficult to find in the varied terrain of Buzzard Coulee. After quick examination of the suspected region of impact, the first meteorites were located by Ellen Milley, a PhD candidate at the University of Calgary, in a frozen fish pond near the agricultural community of Lone Rock, Saskatchewan.

The largest meteorite fragment to be recovered in the first days was a 13 kg whopper which creating a form fitting indentation 5-10 cm deep before bouncing out and resting on the frozen ground a few cm away. Take a look at the detailed topographical map to see the exact impact location of the large meteorite.