#3. Beat this, Tunguska!
Everyone knows an asteroid had something to do with the extinction of the dinosaurs (and that the Tunguska explosion above Siberia was caused by aliens), but the finding that a lesser planet-pummeling space rock might have wiped out the wooly mammoth in North America came as a surprise to Ken Tankersley, the co-author of the paper that suggests this was the case.

According to Physorg.com, "Ironically, Tankersley had gone into the field with [proponent of the theory] Dr. Allen West believing he might be able to disprove West's theory." (Additional coverage at the Montreal Gazette, United Press International and LiveScience.)

Credit: Images of the researchers courtesy the University of Cincinnati, asteroid image from goldenrectangle, and diamond images via Wikimedia Commons.

#4. Puncture kit for your brain
Polyethylene glycol can be found in everything from skin creams to laxatives, but injecting it into the bloodstream after trauma to prevent injury to the brain, as reported in the Journal of Biological Engineering, is a new one. (Coverage at Nature and The Financial Times.)

The horrific crash pictured at the start of this segment was widely reported.

Credit: Punctured tire image from David Hunter, molecular structure of polyethylene glycol via Wikipedia, image of a punctured tire under a creative commons license from Windell H. Oskay (www.evilmadscientist.com), and bicycle helmet image from Kevin Bryant.

8 Comments

1. 1. Quasimodo 06:54 PM 7/13/08

   Allow no further online advertisements that punch the user with unsolicited music or other audio.
   I can turn my eyes away from things visual. I can't turn my ears off.
   We find it an insensitive thing to do, to roll music without a LARGE very easy to find button to make it stop. What about those living in small spaces that don't want to disturb sleeping children? Time to rethink the advertising. Let the user decide first whether he/she wants the audio onslaught. This kind of advertising shows just how greedy and selfish corporations can be. STOP IT.

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2. 2. c_estus 07:15 AM 7/17/08

   Thanks for the nice work!

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3. 3. immaterialman 06:21 PM 7/22/08

   Since the beginning I've been able to get The Monitor (Sciam Vodcast) via iTunes... however the last time this worked was with the vodcast on 1 July, since then only the website seems updated and my iTunes feed reports an error... unfortunately not giving any details other than to say it's not working.
   
   Just thought I'd let you know.

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4. 4. Richard from Amherst 09:43 AM 7/25/08

   Please answer immaterialman's comment about the flaky behavior about the iTunes connection and download function. I have come to look forward to the regular electronic posting of "the Monitor" on iTunes and find it problematic when it becomes impossible to download the latest video podcast especially when there is no explanation of the problem.

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5. 5. flushedphoenix 10:32 AM 7/29/08

   Wish i could have got this through itunes as i have been a subscriber since the start of this series

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6. 6. bbkh 01:44 AM 9/6/08

   Nice program!
   However, I want to make one thing clear here. The pic at 1:30 is indeed the KMRT at Taiwan. But the inventor of "train that needn't stop" is call CHEN jianjun from Wuhan, China. (1:30~2:00) And the youtube clip (2:05~2:10) used to show how to get all the people abord the bording cart is actually Seibu railway (http://www.seibu-group.co.jp/railways/tourist/english/index.html) in Japan.

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7. 7. bbkh 02:22 AM 9/6/08

   Just let you know that I'm a Taiwanese, and it's a shame for me to say this - Sometimes the info on the newspaper in Taiwan is not correct. Since I can understand Mandarin Chinese, if you look at the video carefully enough you will find a disclaimer on the top of the video that read like this: "Train without Stops at Stations 不停站可上下車的火車 Designer: chen jianjun (China)" And the train in the video is departed from Beijing to Guangzhou. I am not sure how come Peng Yu-lun takes this credit on the Taiwan Headlines? And I'm not sure who came out with this idea first either. But one thing for sure is that this video is made by 人馬動畫 in China!

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8. 8. Chris Dick 06:44 PM 11/10/08

   I've been watching since the beginning and am a huge fan! We at commandn.tv have also had iTunes problems as well, as for the ads, I'm glad you found sponsors and honestly ads are the way these shows grow and become better, I hope you all tolerate the ads for the benefit of all podcasters.
   
   Chris D.
   commandn.tv

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