The Planck collaboration has released today data from the first 16 months of operation of their space instrument (see left). There will be a live streaming of their announcements to the public in 1.5 hours at this link.

In the early 1950's, a 66-year-old woman with colon cancer received a blood transfusion - but she suffered a severe rejection of the transfused blood. When writing the case study, the medical journal Revue D'Hématologie identified her only as "Patient Vel."

It was determined that Mrs. Vel had developed a potent antibody against some unknown molecule found on the red blood cells of most people in the world—but not found on her own red blood cells. But the molecule was unknown, nobody could find it. A blood mystery began, and, from her case, a new blood type, "Vel-negative," was described in 1952.

Thomas Nagel wrote one lucky paper back almost half a century ago, titled “What Is it Like to Be a Bat?”.  That title went down so well, he has basically made a living from this alone ever since.  Recently, he went fully down the path trodden by many a noble prize winner: Pseudoscience!  I did also not believe this initially, but do read outtakes (e.g.

Scientists have found a layer of liquefied molten rock in Earth's mantle that may be acting as a lubricant for the sliding motions of the planet's massive tectonic plates. The discovery was made at the magma layer at the Middle America trench offshore Nicaragua. Using advanced seafloor electromagnetic imaging technology pioneered atScripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Dieg , the scientists imaged a 16 mile-thick layer of partially melted mantle rock below the edge of the Cocos plate where it moves underneath Central America.

Can a computer predict the winner of the NCAA basketball tournament, called March Madness by fans and the NCAA corporate juggernaut alike?

If so, Science 2.0 will save you some time: third seed Florida will be your national champion.

The prediction is from Georgia Tech's Logistic Regression/Markov Chain (LRMC) college basketball ranking system, a computerized model that has correctly chosen the men's basketball national champ in three of the last five years. 

If you're a taxpayer in the UK, you get medical care for free - even if it's nothing at all.

A survey  conducted by the Universities of Oxford and Southampton found that 97% of UK doctors registered with the General Medical Council (GMC) have prescribed placebo treatments to patients at least once in their career. 

'Impure' placebos are treatments that are unproven, such as antibiotics for suspected viral infections, or more commonly non-essential physical examinations and blood tests performed to reassure patients. 'Pure' placebos are treatments such as sugar pills or saline injections which contain no active ingredients. 97% of doctors have used 'impure' placebo treatments while 12% have used 'pure' placebos.   

I recently came across some articles, again, that were focusing on human adaptive behaviors regarding our concept of beauty and attractiveness.  All manner of considerations are mentioned from facial symmetry to female hip-to-waist ratios, etc.

However, I would argue that these are precisely the wrong questions to be asking.  

Beginning a few years ago, speculation began about when Voyager I would leave the solar system.  There was no sure way to know, the solar system has no official boundary, so scientists were looking for signs.

35 years after its launch, it seems Voyager 1 appears to have traveled beyond the influence of the Sun and exited the heliosphere, the region of space dominated by the Sun and its wind of energetic particles, and which is thought to be enclosed, bubble-like, in the surrounding interstellar medium of gas and dust that pervades the Milky Way galaxy. 

The giant squid is extremely rarely seen but remains are found in the formalin or ethanol collections of various museums.

 An international team has learned that no matter where in the world they are found, giant squid are so closely related at the genetic level that they represent a single, global population - despite previous statements, they are a single species worldwide. In 1857 the Danish naturalist Japetus Steenstrup determined that this beast was the same animal that gave rise to centuries of sailors' tales about monsters in the deep, later immortalized by writers such as Jules Verne and Herman Melville. He gave it the name Architeuthis dux.

“…there is no authoritative definition of the sense of humor, and it is also not yet clear what ‘laughing at oneself’ is, or if it even actually occurs in people’s everyday behavior.”