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This just in from the outer darkness - The final image from the Hubble Wide Field Planetary Camera 2. The camera is being replaced by Wide Field Planetary Camera 3 (duh!).

From the "gee, we had to spend money to find that out" department, Terrorist Attacks Provoke Surge In Alcohol And Drug Use. Wow, really - humans drown their sorrows and fears with mind altering substances? Thanks for the scoop, Louis Pasteur.

Did the swine flu escape from a lab? This sounds less like science, and more like an attempt to blame somebody (anybody!) for our fear (that is, as soon as we recover from the hangover from the previous story).

And finally, from the biological front - Smelly refrigerator strikes down AT(and)T office - way to go, Ma Bell.

This is neat - for the first time ever, we have recovered a meteorite that was tracked from space. The upshot is that not only do we have the physical evidence, but we can also track its orbit and determine where it came from. The feat was accomplished with some good telescope work and some computer crunching to tell us where it would hit, and some good boots on the ground to track down the little buggers (numerous eyewitness accounts of the impact didn't hurt either).

The 2008 temperature in the US was pretty close to the 1951-1980 mean, which of course conclusively proves that global warming is wrong. Fire up the Hummer and pass me a spotted owl smoothie. Not so fast say the scientists (a.k.a. the experts!). The NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) has weighed in with their opinion, and they found that globally (global being the modifier in the term global warming) the earth was about .79F warmer then the 1951-1980 mean, and that 2008 was the ninth warmest year since records were kept. Even worse? The temperature this year was dragged down by a El Nina condition that cooled the tropical Pacific. Since an El Nino is expected to start next year, the scientists predict a record in the next few years, despite the fact that we are in a reduced period of solar activty. Yikes. In other globe warming news, A study of the Mediterranean expects as much as a 61cm rise in sea level over the next 90 years. There is much to learn and see on the shorts of the Mediterranean, and I expect that we will lose priceless artifacts and archaeological sites, not to mention many popular tourist locations. My advice to you? Get your butt over to Italy and see the Blue Grotto, because its likely to disappear in our lifetimes.

Jebb told us about this the other night. A valuable cache of Clovis era tools were found by landscapers in the front yard of a Boulder, Colorado home, complete with animal proteins from now extinct animals that roamed the region. Its really neat when these discoveries are literally made so near to home. Ever since I was a kid, I've always liked feeling personally connected to history; I like standing in ancient ruins or on a battleground and imagining the people who were there before me. I think that is why I'm a fan of western history - I've lived all my ilfe in the stomping grounds of early mountain men, western pioneers, Native Americans, and now, pre-Colombian people. Its my own way of connecting myself to the cosmos, I guess.

For any of you poor bastards that have been caught on I-80 in Wyoming during the winter, this article should satisfy your curiosity about snow fences.

Its that time of year again. A few conservatives poke their heads out of their Washington DC offices, see some snow flakes, and then decide that global warming must be wrong, because its clearly not warm. After all, the world revolve around Sean Hanity, and if he isn't warm, then the globe isn't warm (Also, rumor has it that he isn't hungry because he had a big sandwich, so all those reports of starving people in Africa must be wrong too). along the same vein, I heard ads running on XM radio reporting that the winter last year in Anchorage was the coldest on record, so the reports that the Arctic is melting are bunk as well.

Listen fellas, let me learn ya'. Firstly, climate change is the overall effect on the atmosphere over a long time. Climate is not what is happening on your 5 day forecast. The overall health of the atmosphere joins with the ocean and various topographical features to cause what we know as weather. Secondly, global warming is so called because it is well, global. That doesn't mean that everybody is going to jump up 5 degrees all at the same time. Certain areas will warm faster then others, and that warming has an effect on the ocean and land, which further influences temperatures. In fact, there are increasingly realistic scenarios that point to run-away warming around the equator actually driving temperature on the North American continent down by 5 to 10 degrees. That might sound pleasant, but that will have a dramatic effect on our nation's ability to produce food, not to mention turn the cities of the Northeast into iceboxes.

Second lesson - the arctic regions. The pole regions are plunged into darkness for months at a time during winter. They are going to be cold, and they will remain to be cold. The problem is not the winter, it is the summer. During the summer months the temperatures are significantly hotter, and more importantly, the oceans are much warmer, which is accelerating the loss of sea ice. Losing the permanent sea ice is not only just bad for the Polar bear, but in Antarctica the sea ice is what is holding the landmass ice from slipping into the ocean. Once the sea ice is gone, the glaciers of Antarctica will accelerate into the warmer ocean, melting and increasing sea level accordingly.

The moral of the story? Shut up about the snow in DC and have a listen to what Al Gore is saying.

Lets see whats happening in the world of science. NOAA says that climate change is here to stay. Have high blood pressure? Eat a banana. If you want more milk, then you should name your cow. And of course, who doesn't love pirates? Nobody, thats who.

Science, tired of that whole "lets cure AIDs and cancer" thing, has discovered that people who drink 7 cups of coffee a day have a greater chance of hallucinating. The article is suspiciously quiet on the reported rumor that those same people were drinking that much coffee to combat the effects of alcohol and/or drugs the night before, and in reality the coffee is the hero, toning down the otherwise even more mind bending visions.

This artice discusses some genetic analysis on the yeast used in lagers (beers fermented in colder temperatures). Apparently, the yeast evolved not once, but twice, one with a slightly different genetic makeup that reflects the "Frohberg" style of lager, as opposed to the "Sazz" style (including both the Czech Budweiser and its sorry American clone). Either way, both strains have become well adapted to cold brewing. I love science, and I love beer, the two of them together is almost too much love for one guy.

Arctic Ice More Vulnerable To Sunny Weather, New Study Shows. Apparently, they ran out of money before they could include ice cream cones and Eskimo Pies into the mix. Next up for these superstar researchers, finding out why tickling increases laughter by 70% among all children under the age of four. (Despite the title, it actually is a pretty interesting article).