On:

The first two weeks of May this year saw the largest cluster of tornadoes in the Midwestern U.S. since record keeping began in 1950. In a ten day period of time, 465 tornadoes touched ground. There is a clear explanation for why this happened. However, the implications of that explanation lead to some serious conclusions.

More tornadoes occur in the Midwestern U.S. than anywhere else in the world. The reason for this is the unique geographic features that border on this region. Cold, dry air flows eastward from the Rockie Mountains until it hits the warm, moist air flowing northward from the Gulf of Mexico. The area where these two air masses come together in the Midwest is known as “Tornado Alley.”
read more

On:

U.S. artist Rowena Morrill says she was shocked to discover her paintings in Saddam Hussein’s private collection. Her sister first spotted them on the TV news, hanging on the wall of one of Saddam’s palaces, and immediately called Morrill. “I was utterly stunned,” she says. “?I’ve always known that once I sell a piece it could end up anywhere. Of course I never dreamed that it would end up in a place like that.”
read more

On:

Scientists have a theory about why no one has picked up signals from alien civilizations?they may be sending each other secret messages buried in background noise. Walter Simmons and Sandip Pakvasa, of the University of Hawaii, say the one sending the message would divide it into two parts, so its photons are sent in opposite directions to mirrors far from the home planet. The mirrors would then redirect the signals to the intended receiver, who would recombine them to reconstruct the message. Then no one?not the receiver or a potential eavesdropper?could locate the sender’s home planet.
read more

On:

Seema Kumar, of Discovery Channel Online, writes that scientists have discovered that the genetic make-up of dolphins is amazingly similar to humans. They’re closer to us than cows, horses or pigs, despite the fact that they live in the water.

“The extent of the genetic similarity came as a real surprise to us,” says David Busbee of Texas A&M University. He hopes his research will reveal how long ago humans and dolphins branched off the evolutionary tree. There’s been some speculation that dolphins and whales, who breathe air, may have returned to the water after evolving into land animals.
read more