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Yes, anything’s cute when it’s a baby and its feet have somehow been scrunched up altogether …
But here’s what else I like about the wombat: Even though it’s, like, 30 to 80 pounds, it loooves to dig burrows, as if it’s a chipmunk (or an ant). That’s why it lives in open grassy areas in Australia, where the soil is loose.
Its burrows, called “warrens,” are ENORMOUS — they can be as many as 650 feet long, with tunnels and chambers and back doors and several plush bedrooms. It also digs additional vacation burrows nearby that it can escape to if an angry farmer (or other predator) emerges. (Farmers don’t appreciate the wombats’ extensive burrow systems.)
Anyone who has ever played “Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots” knows that artificially intelligent machines exist to punch the bejesus out of each other for our viewing enjoyment.
Really, what other uses would we have for one of humanity’s greatest scientific accomplishments? Sure, saving lives and cleaning up nuclear disaster zones is great, but how are we supposed to bet on that?
First, let’s look at a few examples from our sci-fi pop culture. Up first? The trailer for the upcoming film “Real Steel,” which apparently features Hugh Jackman, Kate from “Lost” and Liz Lemon’s dentist in supporting roles opposite a bunch of punching machines.
The U.S. Navy has a pretty cool history of tapping the hive mind to solve problems, beginning with the loss of the USS Scorpion, a nuclear submarine, in June 1968. The Scorpion set out for Norfolk, Virginia from a base in Spain but never showed up and an extensive search was launched but yielded nothing. It’s now thought that the Soviets sunk her.
I don’t care about the UFOs, but I’d love to drive Extraterrestrial Highway in South-Central Nevada for the nothingness.
Route 375 was renamed Extraterrestrial Highway in 1996 to attract alien-loving tourists. It leads to Area 51, where the military mysteriously tests aircraft and weapons, and pilots regularly make ka-boom sounds with their jets by breaking the sound barrier. And then, you know, you might see an alien fly through the sky.
The clothes dryer is smoking – yes, literally smoking. You found gum in your hair after kissing the kids goodbye. The dog deposited last night’s dinner on your favorite (and pricey) heirloom rug. Your mother called to remind you that you’d forgotten your cousin’s birthday again (“Sweetie, can you remember anything?) That two-week deadline on your new work project just became a four-day deadline. And it’s only 9:15 a.m. – oh, and you have a conference call in 15 minutes. You’re stressed with a capital “S” – how can you calm down and keep your cool through all this chaos?
Sure, we all want more life, but just what are will to do to get our hands on a few extra decades or even centuries of eating, pooping and whining? In this episode of Stuff to Blow Your Mind, we will roll out the “Blade Runner” references willy-nilly and discuss mankind’s ongoing quest for biological immortality — or even cyber immortality. Because really, we’ll take whatever we can get if it means dodging the big dirt nap at the end of life.
Just consider the Hayflick limit, which genetically caps human life at a very feeble 120 years of age. Recent telomere research, however, suggests we could live to be a robust 1,000 years old if we really want it.
We’ve had quite a few remarkable episodes of TechStuff recently. Our epic three-part series on IBM stressed the importance of the company’s motto: THINK. We talked about Intel’s approach to microchip design in our Tick-Tock show. Our Star Wars show focused not on a series of movies but on a national defense system that never quite came together. But this week, we had a particularly special show — our 300th episode.
In the Stuff Mom Never Told You episode “How did women pedal their way toward emancipation?”, Molly and I discuss the history of women and bicycles and how access to that revolutionary transportation beginning in the 1890s helped propel women toward gender equality. But don’t just take from us; Susan B. Anthony herself was a bicycle enthusiast, famously stating “I think [bicycling] has done more to emancipate women than anything else in the world.”
The Peace Corps, America’s 50-year-old goodwill-building arm, is coming under increasing scrutiny lately for its treatment of volunteers who are victims of rape during their time abroad. The New York Times is reporting that as many as 221 Peace Corps volunteers were raped or the victims of attempted rape between 2000 and 2009. Another 1,000 were the victims of other types of sexual assault.
If you’re looking to take a subterranean voyage, go here: Puerto-Princesa Subterranean National Park in the Philippines. You’ll find a river called the Cabayugan. Like a train entering a tunnel in a mountain, the river runs underground through a cave for about 5 miles (8.2 kilometers), then spits itself out into St. Paul’s Bay, aka the ocean.
If you go on a tour, you probably won’t ride the rapids out into the ocean, though. …
Recent Postings by Category
BrainStuff
- Thank You and Best Wishes to Marshall Brain
- Contest – Design a $300 house and win $25,000
- How the Philtrum works – the place under your nose where your face comes together
The Coolest Stuff on the Planet
- Have a Coke and a Smile
- The Latest in Frugal Lodging: Camping in Somebody Else’s Backyard
- The Painted Beauties of Bucovina
Keep Asking
- Why can a 5 foot 8 inch man dunk a basketball on a 10 foot rim while some people of taller stature can’t?
- What happens to our sun once it runs out of fuel?
- How do we know the age of the universe?
Stuff Mom Never Told You
- Who invented the Christmas card?
- How the Kinsey Report Fueled Whiskey Sales
- How to Get Your Wedding Announcement into The New York Times
Stuff to Blow Your Mind
- Space Music: DJ Food and ‘The Search Engine’
- Stuff to Blow Your Mind: Hug it Out
- Space Music: Jay-Z and Beyoncé to Film Music Video in Orbit
Stuff You Should Know
- The Southern Death Cult, the Maya and Georgia
- Deformed Baby Spider Brains
- Amazing Medical Conditions: Maple Syrup Urine Disorder
The Stuff of Genius
CarStuff
- Why is NASA studying car safety?
- Tips for in-car Navigation Systems
- Tips for Using Bluetooth in the Car
How-to Stuff
- How to Swim with Dolphins (When Deep Water Terrifies You)
- How to Cure a Homemade Cookie Craving Without Turning on the Oven
- How to Know When It’s Time for a New Pet
PopStuff
- PopStuff Show Notes: Episode 36: Now Available in 3-D
- PopStuff Show Notes: Episode 35: Let’s do brunch!
- PopStuff Show Notes: Episode 34: Play it again, Sam
Stuff They Don't Want You To Know
Stuff to Change the World
- Who will own the Arctic?
- Obesity: The New Global Crisis
- Bill Gates Makes For A Pretty Decent Cartoon
Stuff You Missed in History Class
- Butch Cassidy: Should we read between the lines?
- Are we rooting for D.B. Cooper?
- Party Time: A Look at Unconventional Politics
