Tsunami risk in Bay of Bengal
The coast of Myanmar along the northern Bay of Bengal may be at risk of a tsunami-causing earthquake like the one that devastated Sumatra to the south three years ago. Australian geoscientist Phil Cummins told the Associated Press that the threat is not imminent, but he reported in Nature that the crust under the bay is similar in makeup, stress patterns and historical earthquake activity to other areas with recognized potential for killer tsunami quakes. (Nature)

How to be a fifth of an inch taller
Researchers said they have confirmed the first gene for human height. A variant of the metabolic gene HMGA2 accounted for about 0.3 percent of the differences in height among more than 30,000 adults and children, according to a report in Nature Genetics. Translation: if people were otherwise identical, one copy of that variant would add about a fifth of an inch to a person's height, or double that for two copies. Don't go all GATTACA yet, though: HMGA2 mutations can also boost the risk of cancer. (Nature Genetics)

Goats sacrificed to get airplane aloft
"Officials at Nepal's state-run airline have sacrificed two goats to appease Akash Bhairab, the Hindu sky god, following technical problems with one of its [two] Boeing 757 aircraft, the carrier said Tuesday, " reports Reuters. A senior Nepal Airlines official told the news service the unspecified problem had been resolved, proving that people will do just about anything to get an earlier flight. (Reuters)

Mini dinos cleared for takeoff (no sacrifice needed)
Dinosaurs shrank in size before evolving flight as opposed to slimming down after taking to the air as previously believed, a newly unearthed fossil suggests. The 80-million-year-old bones reveal a tiny creature, measuring two feet long and 25 ounces, from the dromaeosaurid family, part of the lineage that led to birds and a relative of Velociraptor. (Science)

Wrong fish restocked
U.S. conservationists spent two decades restoring the greenback cutthroat trout to its former glory in the mountain streams of Colorado, finally succeeding last year in bringing the endangered species back up to 20 self-sustaining populations. Or so they thought. A genetic analysis of those populations has found that only four are actually greenbacks. The rest are Colorado River cutthroats, which look similar but are not endangered. (Molecular Ecology)

Dude, where's my warhead?
In a more serious blooper, last week a U.S. Air Force crew accidentally flew a B-52 bomber across the country bearing six nuclear-tipped cruise missiles, instead of removing the warheads from the missiles before flight, according to press reports. Although the nukes were not activated, the fact that the mistake went undiscovered for the 3.5-hour trip between Air Force bases in North Dakota and Louisiana prompted an immediate investigation and led to a munitions commander being relieved of his duties. Rep. Edward Markey (D–Mass.) told the Washington Post that the breakdown had "frightening implications" for the security of the U.S. nuclear stockpile. (Army Times)

Stephen Hawking publishes children's book
Stephen Hawking, wheelchair-bound physicist and author of A Brief History of Time, this week published his first children's book in an expected trilogy, designed, he told reporters, to make "real science as exciting as science fiction." Co-written with his daughter Lucy, who conceived of the idea, and a second physicist, George's Secret Key to the Universe tells of kids faced with the choice of saving Earth from global warming or finding a new planet for humans to inhabit. (George's Secret Key to the Universe)

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