Thanks to everyone who took time to read the annual 50 Things We Know Now (That We Didn’t Know This Time Last Year) story.

The story currently is the most-read article on TBO.com:

The article spawned this point-by-point note:

Jeff,

Get our your article and get ready for some feedback!

1. It is from these creatures that the “Mother-in-Law” is thought to have developed.
2. I wonder how many of these people are left-handed?
3. Wondering where your daughter is at 11pm will give you a lot of problems!
4. ”But honey, pizza and beer is good for me, see?”
5. Great. Now my wife will be fat and sober instead of drunk and thin. Whose side are you on?
6. A pessimist is mad that he graduated with an A-, an optimist is glad he got a D+. Who does better there?
7. So we are smelling a bacteria. Great. So what does the real sea smell like? Does anyone know?
8. If they got up, moved around, and worked, they would not be low income, or have sore legs.
9. Not many fruits and veggies at Starbucks or McDonald’s.
10. Waitresses in a restaurant named for owls try to look for feminine by raising their hooters.
11. I worry that what food and bombs have in common are runny noses.
12. It’s morse code. They are asking what to do about the 800 pound elephant in the room.
13. Sounds like traces of Jimmy Hoffa.
14. To get away, go some 1.8 miles below sea level in a region called Monterey Canyon.
15. Tim Allen, Andy Griffith...Bob the Builder, Bob Newhart… sounds like association to me.
16. Sounds the same regarding two statements I make to my wife which are almost exactly identacle.
17. Good think Oklahoma is landlocked or you’d really here some interesting dolphn accents.
18. I hope that’s not a mad cow. name them Robert, so they are rounder....
19. Not to mention damage when you hold a soda can, cell phone, map, and ipod!
20. I did this in 1980 with C-rats.  Old news! What is news is that the leftovers go on Ebay.
21. So canb we give mommy all of baby’s needed shots instead?
22. Yes, if your Dad beat you up I can understand why you would not want to see his face in the middle of the night!
23. If you find ‘remains’ it is safe to assume they did not evolve.
24. So global warming is a good thing now?
25. We need to try that in human schools and let the teachers be in charge for once.
26. And it freed up a hand for the remote control!
27. Well maybe i will not print this article out then.
28. I know folks whose ears are indeed wind tunnels.
29. But if you eat that many onions no one will sit near you to know you know it all.
30. It’s a stick up! “Your honey or your life!”
31. In humans, the violence waits for the divorce court.
32. It is indeed all about packaging and showing off. We buy things we don’t need with money we don’t have to impress people we don’t like.
33. That works for the first kid. By the time the 5th kid goes off to school his parents have probably been in party mode for six months.
34. What’s a Christmas scent? Egg nog?  Myrhh? Wet hay?
35. And we thought Australia was just a bunch of criminals.
36. Maybe we need to lock them in icebergs.
37. Well since 62 percent said they do not eat any fruit on a typical day, we limit the bug’s daily menu.
38. Women are 16 times more likely to care about their weight than a typical man.
39. When fish have to live in trees it makes me wonder abuot all that bacteria that makes the sea smell like the sea.
40. Two-thirds of women older than 40 need to smash the remote control and hide the beer.
41. Better put that on the left side of your body 20% of the time.
42. The first prehistoric fish that made its way onto land didn’t have smog blocking its view.
43. It takes us four times as long to argue with the spell checker that Ebay is eBay, and Iphone is iPhone. And yes we can enter it faster, we just want to stand there with our iPhone out until everyone notices and goes “Oooh he has an iPhone” then we will put it away.
44. Women spend less so they can save for that $50 haircut. A guy’s haircut is $5 so he has another $45 to spend on wheels.
45. Is milk that bad? Can we pour it on that extremophile bacteria and see what happens?
46. I bet only one-quarter has just now realized that there IS an opposite sex.
47. Does breast milk not have a therapeutic, relaxing effect? What if mom drank tea? This can get complicated.
48. That’s why we got rid of fins on cars. They gulped too much gas.
49. That sounds like what happens to parents when we agree to let our 26-year old son move back in with us “just for a week.”
50. I am impressed! How did you manage to spin Mercury on a countertop?

Loved your article! Thanks for making me think!

Robert McLaughlin
Tampa, FL

---

We understand if you were too busy to Hoover up every news tidbit in November. You were probably too busy submitting video questions to candidates on YouTube. Or infiltrating the audience. Or, you know, having a real life.

Here are the highlights of what you may have missed:

* * * * * *

Cells sometimes crawl inside other cells to die. The process, dubbed entosis, may be a method of suppressing tumors.

In Case You Missed It: Cell, no, we won’t go.

* * * * * *

Children that suffer from bedwetting, also known as Primary Nocturnal Enuresis, suffer from impaired brain function, sleep arousal disturbance and bladder dysfunction.

In Case You Missed It: Can I get a glass of water?

* * * * * *

About two-thirds of students play video and computer games - 82 percent of male students and 59 percent of female students, but only about one quarter of them said they play games often with someone of the opposite sex.

In Case You Missed It: Sex? What’s that?

* * * * * *

A giant fossilized claw found from an ancient sea scorpion indicates that when alive it would have been much taller than the average man. This find, from rocks 390 million years old, suggests that spiders, insects, crabs and similar creatures were much larger in the past than previously thought.

In Case You Missed It: Thanks, but I won’t be sleeping after reading this.

* * * * * *

Skin cancer is 20 percent more common on the left side of the body,

In Case You Missed It: That does it. No more laying on my right side at the beach.

* * * * * *

Migraine sufferers have a thicker brain’s cortex compared to those who live pain-free.

In Case You Missed It: Thick brain, thick brain.

* * * * * *

Rats overwhelmingly prefer water sweetened with saccharin to cocaine, a finding that demonstrates the addictive potential of sweets. Offering larger doses of cocaine did not alter the rats’ preference for saccharin.

In Case You Missed It: This explains why rats love Skittles.

* * * * * *

A 110-million-year-old, plant-eating dinosaur found in the Sahara desert called Nigersaurus taqueti had mouth parts designed to vacuum up food.

In Case You Missed It: At last, the very first dirt devil!

* * * * * *

It takes business people twice as long to enter text messages on an iPhone than on conventional cellphones. on their than on their own phone, despite the keyboard similarities.

In Case You Missed It: iPhone? iAllThumbs.

* * * * * *

Giant “tongues” of ozone routinely swoop down from the upper atmosphere over Eastern Canada and can exacerbate smog problems on the ground. In one remarkable instance, ozone levels in a 1,000-kilometre swath from Montreal west across the Great Lakes almost doubled after an “ozone intrusion” dropped out of the stratosphere, the team reports in the journal Nature today.

In Case You Missed It: You had me at “tongue.”

---

California wildfires?

Presidential candidate debates?

No water in Georgia?

:::::yawn::::

Why pay attention to such piddly stuff when you can scan the news for really relevant stuff like old crabs and fish that live in trees?

Here’s the best of what October had to offer in obscure news:

* * * * * *

Young athletes find playing for coaches who stress personal improvement, having fun and giving maximum effort is far more important and has a bigger impact on them than a team’s won-loss record.

In Case You Missed It: Mr. Miyagi was right!

* * * * * *

Fighting with family members can increase your risk of heart disease and such coronary events as heart attacks or chest pain.

In Case You Missed It: Tell us something we don’t know.

* * * * * *

A derivative of broccoli-sprout extract protects the skin against the sun’s harmful ultraviolet rays.

In Case You Missed It: Yeah, but it turns your skin green.

* * * * * *

The first prehistoric fish that made its way onto land looked around and saw a full range of colors, including wavelengths of light that human eyes cannot see.

In Case You Missed It: I spy with my prehistoric eye…

* * * * * *

An ocean quahog clam discovered off the coast of Iceland is believed to be the oldest living animal ever found. The number of rings on the clam’s shell show its age to be between 405 and 410 years old.

In Case You Missed It: Someone grab the oldest bottle of cocktail sauce.

* * * * * *

The mangrove killifish, found in the Caribbean, can modify its biological makeup so it can breathe air and live in trees for months at a time.

In Case You Missed It: We were here first, fishy. Get your own oxygen.

* * * * * *

Two-thirds of women over the age of 40 are the primary providers for their families.

In Case You Missed It: Honey, can I borrow the credit card? I need to buy a carburator.

* * * * * *

Fossil tracks belonging to large, carnivorous dinosaurs called Theropods, have been found near Inverloch, seaside village in Victoria, Australia. The newly discovered footprints, each about 14 inches long and showing two to three partial toe-prints, reveal the animals survived in polar climates when the outback was still joined to Antarctica and close to the South Pole.

In Case You Missed It: Therapod, hereapod, everywhereapod-pod.

* * * * * *

A wasp which attacks a highly invasive bamboo-like plant called giant reed or Arundo donax weed has been found in southern California, saving the federal government time and money that would have been spent to import the insect from Europe.

In Case You Missed It: Wasps get the best weed.

* * * * * *

Overweight women who face employment weight bias could be victims of sex discrimination. Women also are 16 times more likely than men to report weight discrimination in the workplace.

In Case You Missed It: She ain’t heavy, she’s my co-worker.

* * * * * *

Ethanol-based products can provide protein for fish feeds at a lower cost than the soybean-corn combinations commonly used.

In Case You Missed It: That’ll be a relief to Mrs. Paul.

* * * * * *

The mass spawning each spring of hard corals along Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, during which millions of corals release eggs and sperm for a week, is synchronized by a gene known as Cry2 in the corals’ DNA that can detect moonlight.

In Case You Missed It: Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the water…

* * * * * *

A primitive crab species from the Prosopidae family that lived 150-million years ago has been discovered. Cycloprosopon dobrogea, which lived during the Jurassic period, was found by researchers from Kent State University and the University of Bucharest, Romania.

In Case You Missed It: Mmmmmm, Jurassic crab.

* * * * * *

Brazilian and Argentine paleontologists unearthed the skeleton in Patagonia, where the animal lived an estimated 80 million years ago during the late Cretaceous. Dubbed Futalognkosaurus dukei the dinosaur was as tall as a four-story building. From nose to tail it was longer than a pair of tractor trailer trucks laid end-to-end.

In Case You Missed: That’s one gigantic duke.

---

Did you miss us? We hope so.

We decided to combine August and September’s list into one mega-compilation to give you - the loyal reader - a value-added reading experience.

Not buying it?

That’s okay. Neither were we.

In truth, August was a little lean on little-seen news, so we decided to wait until September to prop up In Case You Missed It.

Hope you enjoy the beefier listing:

* * * * * *

Ultra-hardy bacteria species collectively known as “extremophiles” have been discovered in NASA ‘clean rooms’ used by scientists and engineers who are assembling spacecraft.

In Case You Missed It: Perhaps they should have called Mr. Clean.

* * * * * *

Fruit flies love the carbon dioxide fizz from beer. The insects have special taste receptors that are sensitive to the gas.

In Case You Missed It: The buzz is from the flies, not the beer.

* * * * * *

The giant panda has a better chance of survival than previously thought. The fear had been that their bamboo diet, slow reproduction rate and isolated habitat made them unable to adapt as a species in the modern world, but research shows they are more capable of evolving than believed.

In Case You Missed It: Highly evolved pandas. Band name!

* * * * * *

U.S. scientists have discovered what they say is a fundamental flaw in the conventional view of how liquids form bubbles that grow and turn into vapors.

In Case You Missed It: I fear I may be having an attack of the vapors.

* * * * * *

A giant underwater current sweeping past Australia’s island of Tasmania toward the South Atlantic is a main contributor to regulation of carbon dioxide gasses in the atmosphere.

In Case You Missed It: So much for blaming the kindergartener for the warm water in the pool.

* * * * * *

Lectins, a family of proteins believed to be a natural insecticide, is abundant in undercooked legumes and grains and can cause diarrhea by disturbing the lining of the gastrointestinal tract.

In Case You Missed It: Meet Hannibal Lectin.

* * * * * *

Eleven new species of plants and animals have been found in a remote region known as the “Green Corridor” in central Vietnam, including a snake, two butterflies and five orchid varieties.

In Case You Missed It: As if the name “Green Corridor” wasn’t a big tipoff to biological diversity.

* * * * * *

Shoppers like stores’ scents to match their sounds.

In Case You Missed It: Attention Kmart sniffers.

* * * * * *

The universe’s largest known planet is a giant ball made of mostly hydrogen that is 20 times larger than Earth and circling a star 1,400 light years away.

In Case You Missed It: Is it me or is that a giant ball of gas over there?

* * * * * *

Inorganic galactic dust can spontaneously take on the characteristics of living organisms in space, a development that could transform views of alien life.

In Case You Missed It: How will Dusty Rhodes react to this?

* * * * * *

A new species of dinosaur that lived about 100 million years ago in eastern China has been found near the city of Lishui in Zhejiang Province, south of Shanghai. The adult nodosaurid dinosaur, named
Zhejiangosaurus lishuiensis, was 6 meters long, about 1 meter tall and had two rows of sharp spikes on its back and tail.

In Case You Missed It: Mind if we just call you “Zeke?”

* * * * * *

A supersonic red-giant star named Mira has a tail streaking through outer space that is 13 light-years long - about 20,000 times the average distance of Pluto from the sun. The star has been known for four centuries, but the tail had never been visible until it was spotted recently by NASA’s Galaxy Evolution Explorer probe.

In Case You Missed It: Nice tail.

* * * * * *

Oxygen began pulsing through the Earth’s atmosphere at least 50 million years before previously thought. The Great Oxidation Event began about 2.45 billion years ago and marked the transition from an oxygen-poor to an oxygen-rich atmosphere.

In Case You Missed It: Taking the Earth’s pulse.

* * * * * *

Diners at restaurants enjoy their wine and meals more if the wine has a special label, even if it’s really only $2 vintage.

In Case You Missed It: A little vino would be keen-o.

* * * * * *

Small children stress out about starting kindergarten up to six months before school starts, suggesting youngsters may take cues from their anxious parents.

In Case You Missed It: Everybody could use a nap.

* * * * * *

An antioxidant in onions which contains sulphur binds with harmful toxins in the brain and flushes them out of the body, helping to prevent memory loss.

In Case You Missed It: Note to self: remember the onion.

* * * * * *

Asian Cyprian honeybees kills its nemesis, the Oriental hornet, by smothering it as a mob, causing the hornet to asphyxiate.

In Case You Missed It: All for one, one for all.

* * * * * *

Sex among African bat bugs is a violent affair. During copulation, males of the species pierce the abdomens of their mates with their genitals and ejaculate directly into their blood.

In Case You Missed It: Anyone remember back when buying breakfast the morning after was the big issue?

---

The combination of exercise and caffeine increased destruction of precancerous cells that had been damaged by the sun’s ultraviolet-B radiation, according to a team of researchers at Rutgers University.

In Case You Missed It: At long last, Stairmaster meets Starbucks.

* * * * *

The city of Alexandria, thought to have been founded by Alexander the Great in 332 BC as he swept through Egypt in his quest to conquer the world, may be seven centuries older than previously believed.

In Case You Missed It: Sounds like someone’s overdue for an Extreme Home Makeover.

* * * * *

Scientists have discovered the first gene that is linked to the itchy sensation. The breakthrough could lead to new treatments for chronic conditions such as eczema.

In Case You Missed It: It’s “The Itchy and Scratchy Show.”

* * * * *

Bucks, bulls and other large hoofed males have relatively small teeth, which wear out quickly and impair their ability to digest food.

In Case You Missed It: Where did you think buck teeth came from?

* * * * *

Obese girls are half as likely to attend college as girls who aren’t overweight. The same is true for boys because the costs of obesity are not as high for boys.

In Case You Missed It: Graduating Summa ##### Nachos Bell Grande.

* * * * *

A songbird known as the white-crowned sparrow uses testosterone, a natural steroid, to increase the size of its song-producing brain areas.
.
In Case You Missed It: Get a load of the big brain on Brett.

* * * * *

Another moon orbiting has been discovered orbiting Saturn, bringing the planet’s total number to 60. Before the 1997 launch of the orbiting Cassini spacecraft, astronomers knew of just 18 moons orbiting Saturn.

In Case You Missed It: So many moons, so little time.

* * * * *

Underground remnants of an ancient lake in Sudan’s arid Darfur region is giving officials there hope of easing water scarcity, which experts say is the root of much of the unrest in the region.

In Case You Missed It: Water everywhere and not a drop to drink - yet.

* * * * *

Britain was turned into an island by an enormous flood that opened the Channel between 450,000 and 200,000 years ago after a natural land dam at the Strait of Dover failed. The resulting wall of water surged into the once-dry basin that is now the Channel bed, with at least 10 times the destructive power of the Indian Ocean tsunami.

In Case You Missed It: Surf’s up, Queenie.

* * * * *

Ape-men ancestors began walking on two legs 6 million years ago because it used far less energy than clambering on all fours, a study has shown.

In Case You Missed It: Erectus? Damn near killed us.

* * * * *

Some office printers emit a dangerous amount of toner in the air, possibly causing health problems ranging from respiratory irritation to cardiovascular problems. Some of these floating microscopic particles may be carcinogens.

In Case You Missed It: No wonder we’re always running out of toner. It’s all in our lungs.

* * * * *

Yawning may be a kind of low-tech air-conditioning for the brain.

In Case You Missed It: Is it drafty in here?

* * * * *

The risk of cardiovascular disease may be laid down in the diet a baby consumes in the womb.

In Case You Missed It: Hello, and welcome to Baby Buffet.

* * * * *

A new method of making cubic zirconia with very small crystal sizes could pave the way for cheaper and more reliable hydrogen fuel cells.

In Case You Missed It: Finally a crystal meth(od) we can all get behind.

---

That gigantic shadow that blotted out the sun for a good two weeks in June?

Hope you weren’t worried. That was only the mountain of stories about the iPhone casting a gigantic news shadow, obscuring everything else in its path.

Which means, of course, that all the free advertising for Steve Jobs swallowed room in the news hole for stuff that was far more significant and interesting than a cellphone introduction.

To catch you up, here’s last month’s batch of links. Feel free to use your new iPhone to call friends and neighbors to tell them what they missed:

* * * * *

The dwarf planet Eris is 27 percent more massive than Pluto, thereby strengthening the decree last year that there are eight planets in the solar system and a growing list of dwarf planets.

In Case You Missed It: Dwarf is so negative. We prefer ‘little planet.’

* * * * *

Fish use the threat of punishment to maintain stability in their social order. Small goby fish at Lizard Island on Australia`s Great Barrier Reef, use the threat of expulsion from the school as a powerful deterrent to keep subordinate fish from challenging those more dominant than they.

In Case You Missed It: Can a book named ‘Goby Dick’ be far behind?`

* * * * *

Altruistic acts activate a primitive part of the brain, producing a pleasurable response, indicating morality appears to be hard-wired into our brains.

In Case You Missed It: Giving can be so primative.

* * * * *

Rats with blueberries in their diets had a slower rate of brain cell loss associated with aging illnesses than those on normal food.

In Case You Missed It: Rats find their thrill on Blueberry Hill.

* * * * *

A race of 36 million-year-old extinct giant penguins marched to equatorial South America during a time when the world was much warmer than it is now. Remains of the penguins, which stood over 5 feet tall, were found on the south coast of Peru, challenge previous conceptions about penguin evolution and expansion.

In Case You Missed It: But did they have ‘Happy Feet?’

* * * * *

Icebergs hold trapped terrestrial material, which they release far out at sea as they melt. This process produces a “halo effect” with significantly increased nutrients, chlorophyll and krill out to a radius of more than 2 miles. Scientists also have begun to suspect that icebergs may also play a role in global climate regulation by removing carbon from the atmosphere.

In Case You Missed It: Iceberg, not so dead, ahead.

* * * * *

A petrified forest believed to date back 1 to 2 million years has been found in east China’s Anhui province on Xianyu Mountain.

In Case You Missed It: Petrified, but not scared.

* * * * *

Women who enjoyed strong childhood relationships with their fathers prefer to have a male partner who physically resembles him,

In Case You Missed It: She wants a boy like the boy who married dear old mom.

* * * * *

Although Mount Kilimanjaro’s ice cover has shrunk by 90 percent, the decrease is not the result of greenhouse gases.

In Case You Missed It: So much for that theory.

* * * * *

Two dozen new species of wildlife have been discovered in the South American highlands of Suriname, including a frog with two-tone frog - whose skin is covered with irregular fluorescent lavender loops markings.

In Case You Missed It: Kermit has a blinged-out friend.

* * * * *

U.S. military troops rarely consume all the components in MRE provisions, particularly when they are preparing for missions where reducing the amount of weight and bulk in their packs is essential. Instead, they “field strip” the rations, choosing their favorite items and tossing out the rest.

In Case You Missed It: MRT = Meals Ready To Toss.

* * * * *

Fetuses are able to mount their own specific immune response to flu vaccines received by their mother.

In Case You Missed It: Step aside, mom. I got this one.

---

If you’re reading this, it means several things:

1. You can still breathe after a month of smoke soiling Florida’s collective lungs.

2. You can see the screen after a month of love bugs obscuring Florida’s collective view.

On behalf of the staff here at In Case You Missed It, we offer hearty congratulations.

Here are a few stories you might have missed during the past month while your view was partially obscured.

* * * * *

New research indicates that even small amounts of physical activity, approximately 75 minutes a week, can help improve the fitness levels for postmenopausal women who are sedentary and overweight or obese.

In Case You Missed It: Does pushing a husband’s lazy butt off the couch qualify as exercise?

* * * * *

For small- and large-stature adults, automobile airbags may do more harm than good, new research indicates. A detailed look at crash data spanning 11 years for over 65,000 front seat passengers found that while airbags are “modestly” protective for people of medium stature (5 foot 3 inches to 5 foot 11 inches), they appear to increase the risk of injury to people smaller than 4 foot 11 inches and taller than 6 foot 3 inches.

In Case You Missed It: Unsafe at any height?

* * * * *

Scientists are breeding cows that can produce skimmed milk and butter that is so soft it spreads straight from the fridge. A team in New Zealand have identified a cow, named Marge, which naturally produces lower levels of saturated fat in her milk.

In Case You Missed It: I’ll have a half-calf capuccino.

* * * * *

Scientists have found four new genes that may play a role in breast cancer—a finding which could one day improve screening for the disease, which strikes one in nine women.

In Case You Missed It: See you later, mammogram.

* * * * *

Dolphins living off the coast of Wales whistle, bark and groan in a different dialect from dolphins off the western coast of Ireland, scientists have discovered. Different physical environments might have contributed to the mammals developing distinctive sets of vocalizations or “dialects”, said Simon Berrow from the Shannon Dolphin and Wildlife Foundation.

In Case You Missed It: May you blow the last air through your dorsel a half hour before the devil knows your dead.

* * * * *

Israeli scientists have discovered what is believed to be the world’s oldest wooden anchor. The anchor was discovered during excavations in the Turkish port city of Urla, the ancient site of Liman Tepe, by researchers from the Leon Recanati Institute for Maritime Studies at the University of Haifa. The anchor was submerged, imbedded approximately 5 feet under the seabed.

In Case You Missed It: Question: How do you get a wooden anchor to sink?

* * * * *

Researchers have learned that ocean surface currents can be chaotically changeable. Two identical items released at the same location and at the same time can end up in vastly different areas. Severe storms that alter normal weather patterns also play an important role in the movement of drift items.

In Case You Missed It: Everyone knows it’s windy.

* * * * *

Bacteria found at Los Angeles’ Rancho La Brea tar pits survive and grow in heavy oil and natural asphalt. Trapped in soil that was mixed with heavy oil nearly 28,000 years ago, the bacteria have uniquely adapted to the pits’ oil and natural asphalt and contain three previously undiscovered classes of enzymes that can naturally break down petroleum products.

In Case You Missed It: Fred Flintstone would be impressed.

* * * * *

Some people’s features match their monikers so well that it makes them instantly more memorable. For example, when people hear the name Bob they picture a large, round face, but when they hear the names Tim or Andy they imagine someone far thinner.

In Case You Missed It: Hello, my name is...

* * * * *

Scientists have concluded Mercury has an earth-like molten core because it wobbles like a raw egg does when a chef spins it on a countertop to determine if it is hard-boiled or uncooked.

In Case You Missed It: The incredible, inedible planet.

* * * * *

A group of American scientists have discovered how to make the skin of laboratory mice grow new hair follicles, complete with hair, by using a protein that stimulates follicle generating genes in skin cells under wound conditions. They hope this discovery may one day lead to treatments for baldness and abnormal hair growth.

In Case You Missed It: Mice get all the good stuff first.

* * * * *

A new species of sea anemone has been discovered in the deepest parts of the Pacific, living in the unlikeliest of habitats - the carcass of a dead whale that had sunk some 1.8 miles below sea level in a region of the Pacific Ocean called Monterey Canyon, roughly 25 miles off the coast of Monterey, California.

In Case You Missed It: Anemone, ba-doo-bee-doo-bee.

* * * * *

Scientists have discovered particles of cocaine and marijuana, as well as caffeine and tobacco, in the air of Italy’s capital, they said on Thursday. The concentration of drugs was heaviest in the air around Rome’s Sapienza university, though officials warned against drawing conclusions about students’ recreational habits.

In Case You Missed It: Friends, Romans, Columbians...

* * * * *

Wild herds of African elephants communicating by vibrations in the ground can determine which animal produced the vibrations. The seismic system is so sophisticated, scientists describe the elephants as having their own version of “caller ID.”

In Case You Missed It: Next thing you know, they’ll want giant wireless earpieces.

* * * * *

Electronic noses used in the food industry and for sniffing out explosives can perform better with the addition of artificial “snot.”

In Case You Missed It: You may think it’s funny, but it’s snot.

---

Is it us or was April one big whip-crack of a news cycle?

Shooting spree. Imus mouthing off. Baldwin voice mails. Rosie inviting The Donald to canibalize her.

You know it’s been a wild news month when when the genetic parentage of Anna Nicole Smith’s baby - you remember that name from all the way back in February, right? - barely cracks the top headlines of the month.

With that in mind, here is what might have missed your news radar in April. Let’s hope May is a little more sane.

* * * * *

Scientists have discovered a way by which they can convert A, B and AB-type blood groups into O-type blood. The technique could lead to a dramatic increase in the worldwide stocks of blood available for transfusion.

In Case You Missed It: Bloody good news

* * * * *

After laying their eggs, sea turtles travel hundreds of miles to return to traditional sites where they forage for food.

In Case You Missed It: Egg-celent instincts

* * * * *

Only 18 percent of employers in the United States have a strategy to recruit older workers, while just 28 percent of U.S. employers report having a strategy to retain older employees.

In Case You Missed It: Hope I get hired before I get old

* * * * *

A middle school’s environment can dampen - or exacerbate - violent or disruptive tendencies of aggressive young teens.

In Case You Missed It: Well, I don’t feel tardy.

* * * * *

A new species of fish was discovered after a volcanic eruption on the French island of Réunion killed hundreds of fish. The scientists discovered the fish floating belly-up in the ocean, killed by rising water temperatures after molten lava poured into the sea.

In Case You Missed It: Hey, look. Seafood.

* * * * *

Owls try to sound more macho by lowering the tone of their hoots.

In Case You Missed It: Quiennes mas macho?

* * * * *

A team of European astronomers announced that they found a new planet circling a comparatively nearby star in the constellation Libra, that, like Earth, orbits a comfortable distance from its sun, maintains a surface temperature somewhere between 32 and 104 degrees Fahrenheit and could harbor surface water.

In Case You Missed It: Someone alert Interplanet Janet

* * * * *

Scientists have discovered how to use a beam of light to bend and move soapy water, a significant discovery because it involves moving a body or mass of liquid with a laser rather than moving an individual particle of liquid.

In Case You Missed It: It’s bubblicious

* * * * *

A survey of 25,000 Americans by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions in Baltimore found that 62 percent said they do not eat any fruit on a typical day, and 25 percent said they do not eat vegetables. All told, 11 percent ate the recommended number of servings of fruits and vegetables, they found.

In Case You Missed It: You want fries with that?

* * * * *

When it comes to using the Internet to plan trips, 42 million women research and plan travel online compared with 40 million men. Age-wise, the top demographic for planning vacations online is the 45+ age group (40.1 million), followed by 35-44 (30 million) and 55+ (19.5 million).

In Case You Missed It: Take a little trip and see

* * * * *

An undersea mineral chimney emitting hot, iron-darkened water that attracts unusual marine life – including a possible new species of jellyfish - has been discovered at about 8,500 feet underwater by an expedition currently exploring a section of volcanic ridge along the Pacific Ocean floor off Costa Rica.

In Case You Missed It: Pass the jellyfish, please

* * * * *

Smithsonian scientists have discovered a place in the eastern Pacific Ocean off the coast of Panama in which approximately 50 percent of the organisms found in some groups are new to science.

In Case You Missed It: Didn’t think of looking here, did you?

* * * * *

The 8,500 warriors, horses and other figures in China’s terracotta army contain different pollen compositions, scientists have discovered, a finding which could help locate the long-sought kilns where the clay figures were made.

In Case You Missed It: Terracotta da vida, baby

* * * * *

Scientists have discovered that a type of spider which is common in Florida caresses and snuggles its young.

In Case You Missed It: As long as there’s no spooning, we won’t object

---

There was plenty of big news in February and March. Lots of tempting media tidbits to lock in on - The Oscars, Britney, “American Idol.” That’s why you might have missed some of the more interesting morsels.

Here’s our latest passel of information we thought was fascinating but not enough to grab everyone’s attention.

* * * * *

Gamers who play action video games such as Unreal Tournament or Quake for a few hours a day over the course of a month improved their vision, according to new research funded by the National Institutes of Health.

In Case You Missed It: Gentlemen, start your thumbs

* * * * *

The surface of the moon can accumulate such a huge charge of static electricity that it could have significant implications for those planning to colonize, due to possible damage to electronic equipment.

In Case You Missed It: AC/DC on the moon

* * * * *

Scientists have figured out that a unique bacteria is what makes the sea smell like the sea. They’ve also found a way to capture the aroma, and bottle it.

In Case You Missed It: They sell sea smells of the sea shore

* * * * *

Minorities from low-income areas are at increased risk for having a leg amputated as a result of severe peripheral artery disease (PAD), a type of atherosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries, of the legs.

In Case You Missed It: Take care of your arteries and they’ll take care of you

* * * * *

NASA satellites have been used to identify an extensive network of waterways beneath a fast-moving Antarctic ice stream that provide clues as to how “leaks” in the system impact sea level and the world’s largest ice sheet.

In Case You Missed It: Water, water everywhere.

* * * * *

From age six months to two years, memory in babies increases from about 24 hours to a year, she said.
In Case You Missed It: Coochie coo and memory too

* * * * *

The bacteria that causes stomach ulcers has been present in humans for more than 60,000 years, a discovery that offers scientists new ways to study the migration and diversification of early humans.

In Case You Missed It: I can’t believe I at the whole mastadon.

* * * * *

Scientists have discovered dark chocolate contains more antioxidants than red wine.

In Case You Missed It: And with dinner, we’ll have a bottle of ‘72 Godiva.

* * * * *

People who are optimists do better in most avenues of life, whether it’s work, school, sports, or relationships. They get depressed less often than pessimists do, make more money, and have happier marriages.

In Case You Missed It: Shiny, happy people holding hands

* * * * *

Huge rock formations found in Greenland may be remnants of Earth’s crust created when the sea floor split apart some 3.8 billion years ago.

In Case You Missed It: Rock of ages

* * * * *

Baking pizza dough at higher temperatures, for longer periods, enhanced levels of antioxidants that medics believe lower a person’s risk of developing cancer and heart disease.

In Case You Missed It: Cancer-fighting pizza!

* * * * *

An obscure type of bacteria can turn maple syrup into natural polymers that can be used to make biogradable plastic-like materials.

In Case You Missed It: Care for some (plastic) Log Cabin on your johnnycakes?

* * * * *

---

There’s no way you can pay attention to every piece of piece of juicy news that dangles from the media vine. There’s too much to consume. It’s not unlike the contents of Paris Hilton’s storage shed, which were recently auctioned off and displayed on the Internet; there are so many artifacts of bad decision making that it’s difficult to focus on just one item.

That’s what we’re here for. Consider us your news filter.

Here’s a sample of what you may have missed in January.

* * * * *

A species called the cardinal fish on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef possesses an odor-sniffing homing ability that allows it to smell a path as much as 30 miles back to the patch of reef where it hatched.

In Case You Missed It: Meet Cardinal Fish

* * * * *

Quick-growing plants such as weeds may adapt better to global warming conditions than slower-growing plants such as Redwood trees, a phenomenon that could lead to future changes in the Earth’s plant life.

In Case You Missed It: Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

* * * * *

The first-ever triple quasar, a rare and awe-inspiring celestial phenomenon, has been located by the astronomers at the California Institute of Technology in the U.S.

In Case You Missed It: Heh, you said, “black hole.”

* * * * *

Men who have only daughters have a higher risk of prostate cancer than men with at least one son, suggesting a chromosome defect, Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health researchers said.

In Case You Missed It: Daddy’s little girls.

* * * * *

A group of areas in the brain called “the default network,” is the source for activity commonly called “mind wandering.”

In Case You Missed It: They call me The Wanderer.

* * * * *

A previously unknown species of rodent has been found in the cloud forests of Peru. The species, named Isothrix barbarabrownae, is described in the current issue of Mastozoologia, the principal mammalogy journal of South America. The animal was discovered at an altitude of 6,200 feet in Peru’s biologically diverse Manu National Park and Biosphere Reserve.

In Case You Missed It: Those are not rat droppings. Those are sprinkles.

* * * * *

Researchers have developed a way of analyzing the traces of scent that every person leaves behind. The findings could lead to forensic techniques that will be the modern equivalent of using scent-tracking dogs.

In Case You Missed It: Here comes Stinky Pete.

* * * * *

A survey of tendencies among approximately 1,000 car owners age 18 and over showed that U.S. men and women demonstrated an equal interest in upgrading the quality of their tires and wheels, women who responded to the survey tended to spend less than men when doing so.

In Case You Missed It: Doing wheelies.

* * * * *

A logjam of nerve messages in the frontal and prefrontal cortex areas of the brain causes a bottleneck that may explain why people find it hard to do two things at once.

In Case You Missed It: Sorry, can you repeat that?

* * * * *

New survey research indicates slightly more than one in four Americans would likely not support a female candidate for president. The response was consistent among women as well as men.

In Case You Missed It: Can I change my answer?

* * * * *

The therapeutic relaxing effect on the arteries provided by drinking a few cups of ordinary black tea is completely wiped out if milk is added to the drink.

In Case You Missed It: Don’t milk it.

---

Advertisement

Write a letter to the editor | Subscribe and get two weeks free | Place an Ad Online