Tuesday, April 26, 2011

14 Serial Killers Who Were Never Captured, In Order Of How Frightening Their Media-Created Names Are


14. The Babysitter

13. The Moonlight Murderer

12. Jack the Stripper

11. Bible John

10. The Rainbow Maniac

9. The Grim Sleeper

8. The Zodiac Killer

7. Beer Man

6. The Doodler

5. Jack the Ripper

4. Axeman of New Orleans

3. The Mad Butcher of Kingsbury Run

2. Servant Girl Annihilator

1. Charlie Chop-Off

LINK

Via: The Awl

Sunday, April 24, 2011

Do Pterosaurs Still Exist on Papua New Guinea?


Pterosaurs are ferocious flying dinosaurs thought to have been extinct for 65 million years. However, there is physical evidence of gigantic nesting sites in some of the mountainous cliff areas of Papua New Guinea. What's more the natives there have been reported as being fearful of animals that fit their description and given eyewitness accounts. The animals were described as being large in diameter, with bat-like wings connecting to an elongated beak. There were reports of razor sharp teeth and claws and a lengthy whip-like tail with a split or flange at the end.

LINK

Via: Environmental Graffiti

Friday, April 15, 2011

What Happens to a Donor’s DNA in a Blood Transfusion?

red and white blood cells, plasma or platelets
Reader Cathy wrote in wondering what becomes of a donor’s DNA once it gets inside another person during a blood transfusion.

Most of the time, the answer is nothing, because the donor’s DNA never makes the trip to a new home.

LINK

Via: Mental Floss

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

When the Blind Can Suddenly See, Do They Know What They’re Looking At?

If someone who has always been blind is one day able to see, can they recognize by sight objects they already know by touch?
In a new study published online by Nature Neuroscience, patients who had been blind since birth underwent sight-restoring surgeries as children or adolescent. In the day or two following surgery, patients seemed unable to match what they felt with their hands with what they saw, the researchers found, but a week later, they could.

LINK

Via: Discover Magazine

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

FBI wants public to help break murdered man's code

The meanings of Ricky McCormick's coded notes remain a mystery to this day
A lifelong fan of codes, Ricky McCormick wrote out two pages of letters, numbers and symbols and stuck them in his pocket. His body was found in a Missouri cornfield in the summer of 1999, those two sheets of paper still in his pants.

ALPONTE GLSE - SE ERTE, one line read. Is that a coded plea for help? A reminder to pick up the laundry from the cleaners? The beginnings of a commentary on the weather in St. Louis?

If you know, the FBI's top code-breaking unit wants your help in breaking McCormick's code — one that has baffled government cryptologists for more than a decade — and perhaps solving his murder.

LINK

Via: Physorg.com