When a jet is flying faster than the speed of sound, one small mistake can tear it apart.   It was so feared that the physics blended with the supernatural in the mid 1940s.  Luckily, Chuck Yeager didn't believe in demons.

There was a demon that lived in the air. They said whoever challenged him would die. His controls would freeze up, his plane would buffet wildly, and he would disintegrate. The demon lived at Mach 1 on the meter, seven hundred and fifty miles an hour, where the air could no longer move out of the way. He lived behind a barrier through which they said no man would ever pass. They called it the sound barrier.

Calculations by Ryan O'Leary and Avi Loeb of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics suggest that hundreds of massive black holes, left over from the galaxy-building days of the early universe, may wander the Milky Way.   Rogue black holes roaming our galaxy, threatening to swallow anything that gets too close?  Do we call the UN?

No, Earth is safe. The closest rogue black hole should reside thousands of light-years away. Astronomers are eager to locate them, though, for the clues they will provide to the formation of the Milky Way. 

As you know, when different species directly compete for the same finite resource, only the fitter will survive.  A new study in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) says they have demonstrated that in a laboratory environment, along with how, when given a variety of resources, the different species will evolve to become increasingly specialized, each filling different niches within their common ecosystem.

We're big fans of oxytocin understanding.  It generally makes people nicer and  and relationships are difficult.   When you introduce stressful issues into relationships, such as home finances, it can only get worse.    Oxytocin has been found to make relationships a little less difficult because it can take the "edge" off sensitive discussions.

The actual biology of human social relationships is just beginning to emerge as research on social cognition conducted in animals is now informing research in humans. 

According to a 19th century nursery rhyme, the biological distinctions between males and females are thus:

What are little boys made of?
What are little boys made of? 
Frogs and snails
And puppy-dogs' tails,
That's what little boys are made of.
What are little girls made of?
What are little girls made of? 
Sugar and spice
And all things nice,
That's what little girls are made of.

This was pre-Mendel but we bet he agreed.    Boys seem to really get cheated on cute rhymes about gender differences.   But what came first, the rhyme or the differences?   

LOS ANGELES, April 28 /PRNewswire/ --

Taking a cue from the number one women's wardrobe staple, the little black dress, Hurley and Bar Refaeli introduce the Little Black Bikini, a timeless essential for beaches everywhere.

The limited-edition Hurley Little Black Bikini by Bar Refaeli will retail for US$120, with a portion of proceeds donated to Boarding for Breast Cancer, a youth-focused non-profit that promotes early detection and an active lifestyle as the best prevention for breast cancer. It will debut on May 1, 2009 at select boutiques worldwide. As of June 2, it will also be available at select Victoria's Secret stores nationwide.