Introducing.....TinyFossil!

Please welcome guest blogger TinyFossil! My designated "science friend," TinyFossil also happens to be an avid biker, a serious music lover, and a total hottie. I hope you enjoy her additions to Yum & Yuk! xoxo Shorty

In the interest of injecting a little nerdery into Yum & Yuk, I'll be posting occasionally about science related issues, and probably other randomness as well. After all, it's up to us young whippersnappers to ensure that the division of science and the humanities decried in C.P. Snow's The Two Cultures is ended, or at least eroded. With global warming, ecosystem decline, ocean acidification, personal genomics, Mars exploration, and the energy crisis in our faces all day long it's worth it to pay a little attention, have a little background, and generally be a little nerdier…

OK up first – Life on Mars? (the illustrious N.Y. Times couldn't resist using the phrase "subsurface Martian cows" – priceless!)

Not so fast. The folks over at NASA and the myriad scientists who are associated with the various Mars missions are constantly trying to find reasons to claim that Mars is, or once was, hospitable to life. Some responsibility also lies in journalists' deep un-abiding love of over-reaching headlines.

This time around, I was conveniently able to go about 6 feet away from my desk to ask a resident Mars expert the skinny on the new findings. He gave me his usual "there they go AGAIN" look and reluctantly stopped Skyping with his girlfriend to tell me what was what. Dr. Perchlorate, as we will call him, confirmed my suspicion that the methane signal these scientists report could very easily come from volcanic activity underneath the surface of the planet, as opposed to being a byproduct of bacteria eating stuff. While no actual volcanic eruptions have ever been observed, there is evidence that the planet has been volcanically active within the last million years or so, a relatively short period of time for us geologist types, and short enough that it's a pretty sure bet there is still a lot of heat and activity going on under the planet's crust, activity that could very easily be responsible for the methane signal reported.

Oh well. There's always Roswell?

In other news: Monkeys know a good nutcracker when they see one.

I know who I'M inviting over to Thanksgiving next year.