Curse of the Ice Mummy?

"The death of a molecular biologist has fuelled renewed speculation about a "curse" connected to an ancient corpse. Tom Loy, 63, had analysed DNA found on "Oetzi", the Stone Age hunter whose remains were discovered in 1991. Dr Loy died in unclear circumstances in Australia two weeks ago, it has been announced, making him the seventh person connected with Oetzi to die. Colleagues and family of Dr Loy have rejected the notion that he was the victim of a "curse".

It is not known how many people have worked on the Oetzi project - and whether the death rate is statistically high. The amateur climber who found Oetzi in 1991, Helmut Simon, was killed during an unexpected blizzard in the Alps last year, not far from the original find. His body was missing for eight days before it was located. Within hours of Mr Simon's funeral, the head of the mountain rescue team sent to find him died of a heart attack, aged 45 and apparently in good health.

Four other people associated with Oetzi have died, prompting rumours of a "mummy's curse":

• Rainer Henn, 64, a forensic pathologist who handled the body. He was killed in a car crash the following year

• Kurt Fritz, the mountaineer who led Dr Henn to the body. He was killed in an avalanche shortly after Dr Henn died

• Rainer Holz, 47, a filmmaker who made a documentary about removing the body from its block of ice. He died of a brain tumour soon afterwards

• Konrad Spindler, 66, an archaeologist who was a leading expert on the body. He died of complications related to multiple sclerosis."

- From BBC News.

EDUCAUSE 2007 Seattle Video

Test of How Flip Video Looks

This is a test to see how this looks with a flip video ultra blog post. If we like what we see then maybe we will use this for the real blog.com.biz.

Terminated: Voters Say No to Arnold's Initiatives

Poor Arnold. Should have stuck to being a barbarian.

"SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Arnold Schwarzenegger picked the fight and emerged badly bloodied.

The special election he called cost 20 percent of the California governor's popularity and $300 million in campaign spending, including $7 million of his personal fortune.

At the end of Tuesday's exercise in direct democracy, the Republican emerged battered a year before he would be up for reelection in the generally Democratic state, with all eight initiatives on his ballot soundly defeated.

"This is the most significant 'no' vote in modern political California history, and it ought to cause serious reflection by the governor," Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein said.

"The election results should send a strong message that the voters are tired of having issues that should be solved by their elected representatives placed before them on the ballot," she said.

The Austrian-born actor-turned-politician called the special election to show the Democrat-dominated state legislature that he could turn to the people and win if Sacramento did not bend to his will. He lost that bet.

Schwarzenegger's battle revolved around the budget, union dues, teacher tenure and legislative districting. Even some supporters wondered aloud whether those issues represented the most pressing problems facing the most populous U.S. state.

"This was about a bunch of garbage that nobody cared about," said Tony Quinn, co-editor of the California Target Book, which tracks state campaigns. "His problem was that he put all his prestige on the line for these measures that were arcane and in many cases poorly drafted."

- Adam Tanner, Reuters.

Penguins Explained: Flightless Brids Product of Microevolution

"The breakup of giant icebergs may have forced minor evolutionary changes in penguins over the past 6,000 years, a new study suggests.

The Antarctic iceberg chunks, which break off the continent now and then, are thought to have blocked the swim paths of Adelie penguins returning home to their colonies. Some of the penguins were forced to become immigrants in other colonies, where they established new homes and interbred with the locals.

As a result, genetic changes that might otherwise have remained isolated became widespread among the different colonies. The result is what scientist call microevolution.

Microevolution involves small-scale genetic changes in a species over time. The classic example is a color change undergone by British pepper moths in response to changing levels of air pollution. The acquisition of antibiotic resistance by bacteria and the trend towards tusk-less elephants in Africa are also examples of microevolution at work.

Because it is so well documented, even people who don't believe that evolution can lead to the creation of new species accept that microevolution occurs.

Most microevolution studies involve change over very short time periods, on the order of decades or a few hundred years. The detection of microevolutionary changes over longer time periods has been difficult because it requires that ancient DNA deposits be found together with samples from modern populations of the same species.

Adelie penguins may be the ideal candidates for such research. The penguins often live, breed and die in the same colonies where they were born and where their ancestors before them lived. And the remains of ancestor birds are well preserved in distinct layers of the frigid terrain, making fossil dating relatively easy."

- From Ker Than, LiveScience.com