SCIENCE BUZZ: Dissolving bodies with lye, which has been used to get rid of animal carcasses for years, is being touted as the green alternative to burial and cremation. Burial is expensive, and cremation can be sacrilegious (someone could try to smoke or snort your ashes). The third option of dissolution could become a viable, environmentally-conscious form of corpse removal.

The Best Links:

1. Dissolving Dead Bodies More Eco-Friendly Than Burial or Cremation
2. Discuss: Your Ethical Feelings about Honoring Someone’s Wish to be Cremated, Buried, Or Dissolved
3. Dissolving Bodies With Lye Isn’t Being Offered Yet in the US
4. Cremation and Burial Is Sooo Last Year
5. “It was like you never existed.”

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SCIENCE BUZZ: Scientists have mapped the bizarre DNA of the duck-billed platypus. Citing it as a key to understanding all mammalian evolution, scientists noted the platypus also has 10 different sex chromosomes, instead of just X or Y, and say it may finally solve the question about the origin of the scrotum.

The Best Links:

1. There’s a Reason the Platypus Looks So Weird
2. The Platypus Has Ten Sex Chromosomes, Whereas We Have But Two
3. The Platypus: It Ain’t No Evolutionary Accident!
4. “Platypus Genes Hint at Scrotum’s Origin”
5. The Long-Term Story of the Platypus

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SCIENCE BUZZ: A major volcanic eruption in Chile, a horrifying cyclone in Myanmar, a series of global earthquakes, most recently in Japan: Have the end times arrived? The Myanmar death toll keeps climbing, and the area around the Chaiten volcano has been evacuated. Relief organizations are doing their best to help out.

The Best Links:

1. Myanmar Death Toll May Top 100,000
2. A List of the World’s Worst Disasters
3. Image of the Day: Chilean Volcano From Space
4. Magnitude 6.8 Earthquake Hits Tokyo
5. Ash from Chile volcano shuts down Argentina flights

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SCIENCE BUZZ: No, pig’s bladder powder did not regrow a man’s finger. The Guardian’s Bad Science column debunks the long-circulating story about a man regrowing a finger through the magical use of powdered pig’s bladder: First problem, it was a minor injury, not a missing finger.

The Best Links:

1. Only Trouble: There Was No Missing Finger
2. “It grew back — ‘flesh, blood, vessels and nail’ — in four weeks”
3. Video Slideshow of the Re-growing Digit
4. Breathless Report of Finger Growth!
5. Esquire Reports on the Story in September

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SCIENCE BUZZ: This online video - also available for download (beware: it’s 50mb!) - tackles the consequences of American hyper-consumption in a refreshingly irreverent manner. Seriously, shut down your computer, unplug your iPod, turn off your PDA, cap your water bottle, take off your sunglasses, and learn how to make a difference. Don’t worry - it’s only 20 minutes long, so you can get back to texting shortly.

The Best Links:

1. Watch “The Story of Stuff”
2. Al Gore 2.0?
3. “A Fairly Horrific Look at How We’re Winding Down Our Time On Planet Earth”
4. “The Story of Stuff” Blog
5. “It’s Persuasive But Not a Sermon. It’s Sophisticated But Not Esoteric. Its Tone is Light But Its Content is Serious.”
6. Find 20 Minutes to Possibly Change Your Life

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SCIENCE BUZZ: Scientists in New Zealand have finally thawed and examined a giant frozen squid caught in the Antarctic early last year. There were no reports today of a giant squid on the loose in Wellington, so all must have gone according to plan.

The Best Links:

1. Video of the Freshly Thawed Beast
2. Scientists Originally Pondered Giant Microwave
3. “This is science as theater.”
4. Giant Squid, Live and In Technicolor!
5. They Only Had Four Hours for the Exam, Sorta Like an SAT

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SCIENCE BUZZ: Gastric bypass surgery can cure obesity, type 2 diabetes, sleep apnea, and reduce the risk of cancer. A recent report by 60 minutes is drawing attention to the benefits of gastric bypass surgery. The operation can reduce your risk of diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. Now you have an excuse other than vanity for getting your stomach stapled. You will also save money on donuts, egg rolls, and other tempting fried foods.

The Best Links:

1. Gastric Bypass Cures Obesity, Cancer, and Diabetes According to 6o Minutes Report (Video)
2. I Had No Idea “Gastric-Bypass Surgery Causes Immediate Remission of Type 2 Diabetes, Stops Sleep Apnea, and May Even Reduce the Incidence of Obesity-related Cancer”
3. Gastic Bypass Surgery Video With Lots of Guts
4. Oklahoman Fatties Cure Their Diabetes With Gastric Bypasses
5. 10 Celebrities That Got Gastric Bypass Surgery
6. Oprah Talks With American Idol’s Randy Jackson About His Gastric Bypass

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SCIENCE BUZZ: Scientific research shows that sophisticated footwear actually does our feet more harm than good. A new line of shoes created by the son of the creator of indie staples Clarks, Wallabees simulate the experience of walking barefoot. Those of us choosing to eschew shoes all together can join a number of organizations including The Society for Barefoot Living , empowering you to contest that burdensome “No Shoes, No Shirt, No Service” sign at your favorite fast-food establishment.

The Best Links:

1. How We’re Wrecking Our Feet With Every Step We Take
2. Shoes are Ruining Our Feet
3. Vivo Barefoot Shoes
4. Society for Barefoot Living Home Page
5. Masai Barefoot Technology Shoes
6. “The Bare Truth About Shoes”
7. How Shoes Are Ruining the Human Foot

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SCIENCE BUZZ: PETA is offering $1 million to anyone who can bring lab-made meat to the market by 2012. That’s right: They want to spare animals via man-made meat. Of course, the ability to grow meat in the lab, providing the FDA would approve it, would be so wildly lucrative that $1 million would seem like a pittance in comparison.

The Best Links:

1. “Eating meat and eating animals used to be the same thing.”
2. Why PETA’s $1 Million Prize is B.S.
3. The Details of PETA’s Million-Dollar In Vitro Meat Prize
4. Wait, Didn’t PETA Attack KFC for Allegedly Growing Chicken in the Lab?

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SCIENCE BUZZ: 11 years after the first mystery sighting, unexplained lights appeared in the sky again last night over Phoenix. This time, a formation of lights appeared for about 15 minutes, then blinked out one by one. Area airports and military air bases can offer no explanation for the appearance.

The Best Links:

1. Airport, Nearby Airbase Have No Explanation
2. The Original Phoenix Lights, 1997
3. Local Man Captures the Unexplained Hovering Lights
4. Video of the Lights
5. Phoenix Lights Background
6. Trailer for the Phoenix Lights Documentary
7. Arizona Republic Newspaper Reporter Among the Witnesses

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