Morbid Anatomy of Some of the Most Important Parts of the Human Body

More Atomic Surgery in Action!

Matthew Baille, a Scottish pathologist, was born this day in 1761. His book, Morbid Anatomy of Some of the Most Important Parts of the Human Body (1793), was the first publication in English on pathology as a separate subject and the first systematic study of pathology ever made. It established morbid anatomy as an independent science. The first American edition was published in Albany in 1795.

Watch the Living Dead Girl:

Rob Zombie knows his sources….!

Future Warning Signs

Some typical examples of warning signs in the 30th century:



Warning Signs by Arenamontanus.

Thanks to Neatorama for the tip!

Welcome to the future!:

John Peel's Record Collection

LINK

John Peel left his coveted collection of more than 25,000 records to his wife in his will, it emerged last night. Sheila Ravenscroft will also receive the legendary Radio 1 DJ's estate, valued at more than £1.5m.

Ravenscroft was granted the 25,000 vinyl albums and thousands of CDs after Peel, who died in October 2004, failed to specifically assign them in his will. In typically laid-back fashion, he said: "I ask her (but without imposing any binding obligation) to give effect to any wishes of mine which may come to her attention as to their disposal."

Peel's four children were left more than £250,000 in trust to be split between them. Peel enjoyed national acclaim in a career that spanned over 40 years and included Radio 4.

More John Peel from the BBC.

One of John’s many favourite bands, The Undertones, performing one of John’s favourite songs, “Teenage Kicks”:


Here’s the band in 2005 with a different singer.

Decoding the Cryptic Region of Mars

In the 1970s, orbiter missions around Mars revealed that during southern spring, large areas near Mars's south pole became much darker than the rest of the seasonal ice cap. How could this area be in the polar region and not be covered in bright ice? Intrigued, planetary scientists called the area the 'cryptic region' of the south seasonal cap.


Art © Mark Schultz and available now in his new book “Various Drawings Vol. 2” from Flesk Publications HERE.

The mystery deepened in the late 1990s when new observations showed that the temperature of the cryptic region was close to -135º C. At that temperature, carbon dioxide ice had to be present. So, scientists developed the idea that a one-metre-thick slab of clear carbon dioxide ice covered the cryptic region, allowing the dark surface underneath to be seen.

However, the new observations from Mars Express's OMEGA instrument show that this interpretation cannot be correct. The only way to reconcile the apparently conflicting observations is that there is indeed a thick slab of dry ice in this area, but its surface is so heavily covered by dust that few of the Sun’s rays make it to the deeper layers and back again.



How does the dust get on top of the slab? The answer could be provided by the mysterious markings that dot the cryptic region. Known as spots, 'spiders' and 'fans' depending upon their shapes, they were discovered in 1998–1999 by NASA's Mars Global Surveyor. Planetary scientists that sunlight heating the soil causes carbon dioxide bubbles below the ice to erupt as geysers erupts throwing dust onto the surface creating the fans.

LINK

No signature of clear CO₂ ice from the 'cryptic' regions in Mars' south seasonal polar cap. 2006. Y.Langevin et al. Nature 442: 790-792.

Mars is an Icehouse (no frozen zombies though...):

Time, Space, & Pink Floyd

From the same issue of Folk & Rock that gave us this post on Syd Barrett comes this history of Pink Floyd from 1967-1977. Click each page to enlarge and read.











David Gilmour and Richard wright perform a nice version of "Arnold Layne" live on UK television, 27th May 2006:

Ciné Live

I pulled these from the latest issue of Ciné Live on the stands here in Canada. Besides the cover feature on the new James Bond film there is a long article on the Japanese animation studio Ghibli with lots of artwork from their films such as Nausicaä se la Vallé du Vent, a look at the future of Star Trek, lots of reviews of films that will never make it to NA, a double sided, pull-out poster for Nausicaä se la Vallé du Vent and Casino Royale, plus a free QT DVD with interviews, movie promos, etc. All for $5.50 CND.

Gassing The Delphic Oracle

From ScienceNow:

The Oracle at Delphi in central Greece was a major religious center for more than 1000 years. Citizens and rulers alike made pilgrimages there to get advice on everything from mistresses to military conquests. The officiant at the oracle was always a woman (the Pythia) who perched on a tripod above a chasm in the bowels of the Temple of Apollo and inhaled fumes from the earth that would induce a prophetic, often crazed, trance during which she would relay the wisdom of the gods.

The story was dismissed as a myth during the first half of the 20th century. But in the late 1990s a geologist found traces of ethylene, a central-nervous stimulant that can produce euphoria, in a local spring and concluded it was the likely source of the oracle's frenzied trances (image below).

Giuseppe Etiope of the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology in Rome asserts that the marine limestones underlying the temple couldn't have contained ethylene in high enough concentrations to account for the trances. The team brought a portable laser sensor to Delphi and discovered no traces of ethylene. Other lab work turned up significant amounts of carbon dioxide and methane seeping from the ground suggesting these gases caused oxygen deprivation in the enclosed temple chamber that was the source of the Pythias' inspiration.

Link: The geological links of the ancient Delphic Oracle (Greece): A reappraisal of natural gas occurrence and origin.

In the time of Oracles....: