Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Astronomy and Space Events at Cal Day

Berkeley Cal Day

On Saturday, April 21 UC Berkeley will hold its Annual Open House with over 300 events in including tours of the Space Sciences Laboratory. The full schedule is available at http://calday.berkeley.edu/

Here's a list of astronomy and space related events :

Touch a Meteorite!
9:00-4:00
145 McCone Hall
http://calday.berkeley.edu/detail.php?eventID=2192

Why Are There Stars? New Answers to an Old Question
10:00-11:00
2 LeConte Hall
http://calday.berkeley.edu/detail.php?eventID=2222

Astronomy Demonstrations and Hands-On Activities
10:00-3:30
Hearst Field Annex
http://calday.berkeley.edu/detail.php?eventID=2220

Astronomy Undergraduate Lab Tour
10:00-3:30
Hearst Field Annex
http://calday.berkeley.edu/detail.php?eventID=2382

Portable Planetarium Shows
10:00-3:30
Hearst Field Annex
http://calday.berkeley.edu/detail.php?eventID=2219

Solar Viewing
10:00-3:30
Lawn North of Sproul Hall
http://calday.berkeley.edu/detail.php?eventID=2221

The Expanding Universe: An Interview With Saul Perlmutter, 2011 Nobel Laureate
11:00-11:45
1 Pimentel Hall
http://calday.berkeley.edu/detail.php?eventID=2130

Art in Science: The Intersection of Image and Research
11:00-3:00
Free Speech Movement Café Moffitt Library
http://calday.berkeley.edu/detail.php?eventID=2140

Space Sciences Laboratory
11:00-5:00
Space Sciences Laboratory (take Hill Shuttle from Evans Hall east entrance)
http://calday.berkeley.edu/detail.php?eventID=2241

Walking Tour of Space Sciences Laboratory
11:00-5:00
Space Sciences Laboratory (take Hill Shuttle from Evans Hall east entrance)
http://calday.berkeley.edu/detail.php?eventID=2242

Make a Comet!
12:00-12:30
Space Sciences Laboratory (take Hill Shuttle from Evans Hall east entrance)
http://calday.berkeley.edu/detail.php?eventID=2247

2012 Is Not the End of the World: Astronomy and the Maya Calendar
12:00-1:00
Space Sciences Laboratory (take Hill Shuttle from Evans Hall east entrance)
http://calday.berkeley.edu/detail.php?eventID=2263

ChronoZoom: Visualizing the History of Everything
1:00-1:30
141 McCone Hall
http://calday.berkeley.edu/detail.php?eventID=2380

Is Anybody Out There?
1:00-2:00
2 LeConte Hall
http://calday.berkeley.edu/detail.php?eventID=2103

Neutron Imaging: Can You See a Flower Through a Granite Wall?
1:00-2:00
Space Sciences Laboratory (take Hill Shuttle from Evans Hall east entrance)
http://calday.berkeley.edu/detail.php?eventID=2246

Stardust Lab Tour
1:00-2:00
Space Sciences Laboratory (take Hill Shuttle from Evans Hall east entrance)
http://calday.berkeley.edu/detail.php?eventID=2243

Cool Careers in Space Science
2:00-3:00
Space Sciences Laboratory (take Hill Shuttle from Evans Hall east entrance)
http://calday.berkeley.edu/detail.php?eventID=2244

Stardust Lab Tour
2:00-3:00
Space Sciences Laboratory (take Hill Shuttle from Evans Hall east entrance)
http://calday.berkeley.edu/detail.php?eventID=2243

Two Amazing, Rare Celestial Events Visible Soon From California
2:00-3:00
105 Stanley Hall
http://calday.berkeley.edu/detail.php?eventID=2104

Make a Comet!
3:00-3:30
Space Sciences Laboratory (take Hill Shuttle from Evans Hall east entrance)
http://calday.berkeley.edu/detail.php?eventID=2247

High-Energy Astrophysics: From Neutron Stars to Supermassive Black Holes
3:00-4:00
Space Sciences Laboratory (take Hill Shuttle from Evans Hall east entrance)
http://calday.berkeley.edu/detail.php?eventID=2245

Can Ice Tell Us About Past Climate and the Sun? A Cosmochemist's Perspective
4:00-5:00
Space Sciences Laboratory (take Hill Shuttle from Evans Hall east entrance)
http://calday.berkeley.edu/detail.php?eventID=2264

Wednesday, April 04, 2012

Sunday, April 01, 2012

Bay Area Space and Science Events for the week of 4/2/12-4/8/12

Getting ready for Day 2 of SpaceUpSF. Here's some other Space events in the Bay Area this week.
Bay Area Space and Science Events for the week of 4/2/12-4/8/12

Friday, March 30, 2012

SpaceUp San Francisco March30-April1

This weekend the SpaceUp SF unconference will be held at Citizen Space in San Francisco. It promises to be a fun two days of Space, NASA, robots, New Space, Sci-Fi, moonpies and did I mention Space?(I like Space.)It will be held at the appropriately
named Citizen Space. This Barcamp-style "unconference" is an event where they participants determine the schedule and all are encouraged to be on a panel or lead a talk. Cost for the weekend is $50 (that includes 3 meals, snacks and a T-shirt). As of this writing, tickets are still available. Register at http://spaceupsf.org/registration/
If you can't make it in person, don't panic. Spacevidcast will be streaming portions of the event here: http://www.spacevidcast.com/. I also wrote a brief article about SpaceUp SF at Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/nasa-in-oakland/spaceup-rockets-into-san-francisco-march-31-april-1

Friday, March 09, 2012

See what Neil deGrasse Tyson has in his Office

Since the release of The Space Chronicles Neil DeGrasse Tyson has been even more ubiquitous than usual. In the last two weeks he's been everywhere from the talk show circuit to testifying before Congress. Here he is giving Science Friday's Digital Media Producer Flora Lichtman a tour of his office.
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Wednesday, March 07, 2012

The Fiction to Reality Timeline


There a some problems with this, (for instance, 2001 a Space Odyssey came out in 1968 not 1976)and some of the fictional works cited probably aren't the earliest time the concepts were presented but it's pretty. Click on the image to see full-sized picture.

From: exp.lore.com

Saturday, November 05, 2011

Bay Area Science Festival to host Saturday Night Star Party.

Star parties are being held at 20 sites in the bay area. Many will have cloudy sky activities if the weather is bad.


Bay Area Science Festival to host Saturday Night Star Party.

Thursday, November 03, 2011

Tuesday, November 01, 2011

November is National Blog posting Month!

So stand by for blog posts.... about things. Honestly I have no idea what will turn up here but I promise it will be something new every day!

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Check out this fantastic video of space shuttle Atlantis being prepared for its final fight.






Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Maker Faire on PBS New Hour

Miles O'Brien did a News Hour piece on Maker Faire.

Watch the full episode. See more PBS NewsHour.

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

SpaceshipTwo feather flight test


Awesome video of SpaceshipTwo's first feather flight test.

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Back to Tomorrowland!

In honor of my upcoming trip to Dinsneyland I present one of the lost rides... The Flying Saucers!

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Are Flying Cars almost here?


A company called Terrafugia (which means "flee the Earth") is claiming that its new "Roadable Airplane" will be available next year. The plane, which is called the Transition, can be driven to an airport and the wings can be extended in 20 seconds.
You can read more about it at http://www.slate.com/id/2287738/

Tuesday, February 08, 2011

NASA's Robonaut2 is set to fly to the International Space Station on the next Space shuttle mission. It also correctly picked the MVP in Sunday's Superbowl.

Get a detailed look at Robonaut 2, NASA's first humanoid robot to fly to space, in this infographic.
Source SPACE.com: All about our solar system, outer space and exploration

Wednesday, February 02, 2011

Shuttle infograph on Space.com

As a tribute to the final shuttle flights happening this year Space.com has posted this wonderful infograph about NASA's fleet of Space Shuttle Orbiters.

A graphical representative of NASA’s space shuttle.

Source Space.com: All about our solar system, outer space and exploration

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

New York Times examines Smithsonian's Space Suit collection.





I've always been fascinated by spacesuits. "Have Spacesuit Will Travel," was the first Robert Heinlein book I read and I chose it based solely on the cover. The New York Times has a piece about The Smithsonian Institute's collection of Spacesuits. Some were worn by famous astronauts and some were prototypes that never made it into space. The Smithsonian is putting together a traveling exhibition about the suits.
Sadly it will consist mostly of full-sized images and x-rays of the suits because they are too delicate to travel. Be sure to check out the accompanying image galleries and videos at the link, there's an interactive x-ray on an Apollo suit that is especially good.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/21/science/21spacesuit.html

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Robots!

This video from Eclectic Method centers on R2D2 but features a lot of famous TV and Movie Robots. How many can you name?

Eclectic Method - Robots from Eclectic Method on Vimeo.

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Make: Online : Handcar Regatta vehicles get the art treatment


Vehicles, artwork and props from last fall's HandCar Regatta are on display at the Sonoma State Art Gallery through April 4th. This year's Regatta will be held Sept. 26 at Santa Rosa's historic Railroad Square.


Make: Online : Handcar Regatta vehicles get the art treatment

Friday, January 15, 2010

Steam powered Biplane from 1933


In 1933 a biplane flew at the Oakland airpont using a 150 hp two cylinder steam engine. Who says airships are the only steampunk form of air transport?

Thursday, October 08, 2009

Steam punk Month on Tor.com

October is Steam Punk month on Tor.com. Check out the fiction, articles, giveaways and other cool things going on.

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Please Stand By....

I'm making some adjustments on the old blog. I'm hoping to get back to posting on a more regular basis. I'm trying to get Know Future back to its original intent of contrasting the future we were promised with the one we are likely to get. More whimsical post (which seem to be about either British Sci-Fi or cake will be spun off into their very own Blog... Tea and Cake or Daleks! Click on the title to go there (although there is not much there there.)

Wednesday, June 03, 2009

Maker Faire 2009





I went to the Maker Faire on Sunday.
the r/c naval battles were back again and were very popular.
Also back in force were the steampunks, and about any kind of robot you could imagine.



The R2d2 builders have several full-sized Artoos in various stages of completion. There were also a number of Telsa coils on display. The UC Santa Cruz physics department put on a very fun show with their tesla coil.

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

ROBOT - POLICE AUTOMATON PLAN SCIENCE AND INVENTION MAGAZINE 1924

Before Robocop, Futurecop or Holmes and Yo-Yo there was this Radio Police Automaton. Don't Tase me bot!

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Cal Day is three days away!


April 18th is Cal Day, the University of California at Berkeley's open house. Many of UCB's classrooms, libraries, laboratories and museums will be open to the public. In adition to tours of area usually not open to the public there are lectures, demonstrations and events for children and prosective students. Click on the title to go to the offical Cal Day website for a full schedule and hints for planning your day.

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Maker Faire UK

Here's a BBC report on the recent Maker Faire in Newcastle.

Friday, January 30, 2009

Make TV goes steampunk


Maker Profile - Steampunk on MAKE: television from make magazine on Vimeo.
The DIY philosophy of Make TV meshes well with steampunk so its no surprise that they're featuring the creator of the steampunk keyboard and other items.

Saturday, January 03, 2009

New year, new Doctor


Matt Smith won't officially take over the TARDIS until 2010 but he was unveiled today as David Tennant's replacement. click on the video to see an extended interview with the 11th actor to play The Doctor. I'm taking a wait and see attitude about this. The Docotr just keeps getting younger and younger.

Saturday, November 08, 2008

Spiker is Australian for robot


Actually, SPIKER stands for Special Purpose IED Killer Experimental Robot. I think Spiker is a cool name (especially when said with an Aussie accent) but does the Ministry of Defense really want the words "Killer Experimental Robot" in their robot's name? Click on the post title to read more.

Friday, October 03, 2008

Yet more Geeky Cake


No matter where I go on the web I can't seem to stay away from cakes (I have the same problem in real life!). WEburbanist has a round-up of 20 geeky cakes. Click on the post title to go there.

Thursday, September 11, 2008

War of the worlds flash Game!


Inspired by Jeff Wayne's musical adaptation of "War of the Worlds", This flash game is like a steampunk version of Missile Command! The little victorian humans have rocket launchers, how cool is that!

Tuesday, September 02, 2008

LHC Rap


Confused about CERN's new Large Hadron Collider? Click on the video above and watch in awe as Alpinekat drops rythmes and knowledge..... Word!

Thursday, August 28, 2008

Follow in Neil and Buzz's footsteps without leaving Earth (or the Bay Area)




Want to follow in the footsteps of the first men on the moon but can't afford your own space program or even a ticket to Florida or Houston? Never fear,
the Bay Area has its very own piece of Apollo history right in the city of Alameda (Yes, the same Alameda the Enterprise crew trekked to in search of "nuclear wessels" but that's another story).
The aircraft carrier U.S.S. Hornet served as the recovery ship for both Apollo 11 and Apollo 12. The ship is now open as a floating history museum and holds several NASA related exhibits on its spacious hanger deck including an Apollo Command Module and an Airstream trailer which served as an isolation housing unit for the astronauts after their return to Earth.
For more information about the U.S.S. Hornet, click on this post's title for a link to the ship's website.

Friday, August 15, 2008

Mmmmm.... more Cake!


Over on the B-side blog there's a story about an amazing R2-D2 cake one really cool dad ordered for his 4 year old's birthday Click one the title to go to the posting. Scroll down to the bottom of the article for an update which include photos of the cake at the party!
Wow, I've seen R2 cakes before but this is the best one I've seen. and before you go "Shouldn't it be Blue?", read the second post where the red color is explained. While I think that maybe the whole "extreme cake" trend has gone too far (and for that I blame the Food Network) I do love robots and cake so it's all good!
Did I mention my birhtday is next month?

Friday, July 04, 2008

Tuesday, July 01, 2008

Belated Maker Faire post






I'm finally getting around to post the pics I took at maker faire. If youv'e never been imagine a craft show, science fair, robot combat meet, renfair with bits of burning man and steampunks madness thrown in.It's the only place I know you can see fighting robots, fighting r/c battleships, story-telling blacksmiths,and a life-size game of Mouse-trap all in the same day.

Friday, May 30, 2008

Iron man in Spaaaaccee !!!!


Marvel.com reports that one of the astronauts on the international space station will get to watch the Iron Man movie IN ORBIT! Lucky him. hopefully it will help distract him from the fact that the station's only toilet is broken. click on the post title for a link to Marvel's press releas- oops, news story.

Friday, May 23, 2008

Real life powered armor


With all the hype surrounding the Iron Man movie there have been alot of stories about real life attempts to make powered armor. While a flying red and gold suit with repulsor gauntlets is still a ways off, there does seem to be progress on the exoskeleton front. Hack-a-day has a pretty good survey of the history of exosuits.
Click on the title to go to their post.

Friday, April 18, 2008

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Monty Python and the Holy Grail in Lego

By request, here's an oldie but goodie!

Friday, April 04, 2008

Mmmmm.... Cake!


Nearly everyone loves cake and apparently there's a lot of people out there making geeky cakes.
Science junkies.com has compiled the slide show above and you can view their post about it by clicking on the title.

Wednesday, April 02, 2008

Three Words

Giant Flying Robot.
I'm not sure if hulu is ever going to rival Youtube but where else are you going to find "Johnny Sokko and his Flying Robot? There's also the old Irwin Allen shows such as "Lost in Space", "Time Tunnel" and "Land of the Giants". Ever curious about "Firefly?? It's here as well as all three flavors of Galactica (current, classic and the dreaded "1980"). Missed the live action version of "The Tick"? The whole series is here. http://www.hulu.com/the-tick.
Maybe this will all crash and burn but in the meantime you can probably find something interesting to watch. http://www.hulu.com/

Saturday, March 29, 2008

The box is locked the lights are on ...could it be robot fighting time again?


Like alot of people my first exposure to fighting robots was through the Comedy Central series "Battle Bots". Popular Mechanics reports that battlebots will return this time on ESPN.(Click on the title to go to the article). Plans are for both a college and a pro event to be held this November. Watch this space for more details as they become available.

Friday, March 07, 2008

New iron man poster


Mania.com posted this version of the Iron Man movie poster. Click on the post title to go to their article. The more I see about this movie the more I want to see it. Only time will tell if the actual movie is any good but the trailers have been excellent.No gimmicks, no viral marketing, no references to nonexistant slushy beverages just interesting clips,some good throway lines and a bit of Ozzy to top things off!

Thursday, February 07, 2008

Npr discovers Steampunk!


All things Considered did a brief story on the "new" asthetic known as Steampunk...um took them long enough.

Saturday, January 26, 2008

Popular mechanics rates the Terminators


Were you wondering which Terminator was the strongest, fastest and smartest? Me either but someone over at PM has given the matter a lot of thought. I've watched thr first few episodes of the Sarah Conor Chronicles but unless it gets better soon I'm out.Anyway, in Califonia Synet has already won. After manipulating the California electricity market and triggering a recall election, Skynet has placed a T-800 in the Governor's mansion!

Friday, October 19, 2007

Dalek cookies!

I want them, I want them now.


Thursday, October 04, 2007

Son of the space age


To call Richard Garriott an interesting person is an understatement. He's the son of an astronaut, a pioneer in computer game development and an eccentric multi-millionaire. not only does he have his own castle (in Austin, Texas of all places!) but he owns his own Sputnik!

Wednesday, October 03, 2007

extermanknits!


They're cute... they're cuddly... they're... Daleks? Some crafty whovian with knitting skills finely honed after years of scarf making has perfected the yarn Dalek. click on the title to go to the site for instructions to make your own.

Mars Is Amazing

Very funny "history" of the Red planet

Friday, September 14, 2007

Dalek Halloween Pumpkin

Just in time for halloween it's the Great Pumpkin dalek!
If you want to build your own go to http://www.evilmadscientist.com/article.php/DalekPumpkin
for instructions. for more fun things you can do with pumpkins go here http://www.worldchampionshippunkinchunkin.com/main.htm

Wednesday, September 05, 2007

R2S2 - The Steam Powered R2D2 Robot from Crabfu

R2 goes steampunk!

How to scar your child for life Part2

When told that they would not be allowed to name their child 4Real a New Zealand couple named him superman instead. that'll show em. Click on the title for the Telegraph's story.Years from now I can picture the follow conversation.


Kid 1 : So what's your name?
Kid 2: Superman
Kid 1 : for real?
Kid:2 naw' that's what they wanted to name me but the government wouldn't let them

My favorite part of the article is the list of real weird names mostly the kids of celeberties. AS if these kids don't have it tough already, they have to go through life as Kal-el or Apple.

Daleks invade Manchester!


Actually it was just a bunch of fans trying to set a world record. Click on the title for the full flicker set and links to news stories on this event.
Notice how most of the crowd is up a small flight of stairs from the Daleks. Obviously they haven't seen the last three seasons of Dr. Who! Extertminate! Exterminate!

How to scar your child for life

Are the thousands of baby name books on the market not enough for you? Then by all means click on the title and read all about the new "Sci-Fi" baby names book.
But if twenty years from now, after a childhood of nonstop ridicule, your child writes the country and western hit "A boy named Slartibartfast" don't say I didn't warn you.

Thursday, August 23, 2007

That's no Moon! That's a space station!



Okay, so the one on the the top left is really Mimas, one of the inner moons of Saturn. The thing on its right side that looks like the Death Star's weapon is an Impact crater named Herschel.

Monday, August 20, 2007

Battlebots: Patent Infringment edition!

iRobot, makers of the Roomba are suing Robotic FX, claiming that the company's Negotiator tactical robot is a ripoff of iRobot's military packbot. iRobot also claims that robotic Fx's founder, a former iRobot employee, violated nondisclosure and noncompeting clauses of his contract. The best part of the story (which you can read by clicking on the post's title) is the part where iRobot demands that all existing Negotiators be turned over to it "for destruction". I say if you're gonna destroy robots at least make it interesting. Let's put the packbots and negotiators in an arena, arm them to the teath and may the best robot win!

Friday, August 17, 2007

R2-D2 spotted in Berkeley




Back in the spring the USPS dressed mailboxes across the country as everybody's
favorite astromech droid. I figured they would be long gone by now but as of last week Artoo was still faithfully accepting may. fittingly, he occupies the same block as a comic shop And The Other Change of Hobbit science fiction book store.

Thursday, August 16, 2007

Roads? Where we're going we don't need Roads











One last Back to The Future post and I'll let it go... promise. Just as The BTTF ride is about to go dark things seem a little brighter for the Delorean. It seems that partly due to the films the car has gained a small but loyal following. How loyal? Loyal enough to make a Texas company mull building new ones. Click on the Title to read the story. Sounds cool but I think I'll wait until flight capabilities and Mr. fusion come standard.

Back To The Future: The Ride

In honor of the soon to be late ride I present the video. Maybe if you fullscreen it and rock back and forth in your chair it will be just like the ride!

Back to no future!

The blog is back, just in time to mourn the closing of the Back to the Future Ride at Universal Studios Hollywood. The ride goes dark after Labor Day to make way for a Simpsons ride. Click on the title for the news. Okay, I like the Simpsons, and yes Back to the Future the ride is getting a bit... dated but is it really smart to replace a 14 year old ride with a new one based on an 18 year old TV show? and a Fox one at that? Maybe Universal should base a ride on one of there hits of the past year or so... Oh wait, they don't have any!

Thursday, May 19, 2005

The doctor is on-line!

A London hospital is testing a tele-presence robot which allows doctors to make rounds and see patients from a remote location (say, home or the golf course or... maybe a call centre in Bangalore). Okay, first the bedside manner goes... now docs don't even have to come to the bedside! The question is will patients line up to sbe seen by a moblie tv screen? Given the state of the English health service... probably. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4555555.stm

Wednesday, November 24, 2004

Inventor of the K ration dies at 100

Obituaries often make for intersting reading. Not only did the guy develop the "K" ration during WWII, he even found a use for Conscientious objectors, as subjects in one of the first controlled studies of starvation. After the war he was among the first scientists to sutdy the link between cholestral and heart disease. Since he lived to be a 100, maybe he knew what he was talking about. He was also Lon Chaney's nephew.

Inventor of the K ration dies at 100

Obituaries often make for intersting reading. Not only did the guy develop the "K" ration during WWII, he even found a use for Conscientious objectors, as subjects in one of the first controlled studies of starvation. After the war he was among the first scientists to sutdy the link between cholestral and heart disease. Since he lived to be a 100, maybe he knew what he was talking about. He was also Lon Chaney's nephew.

Tuesday, November 23, 2004

One place in Europe We're still Appreciated

Not that I'm planning a trip to Europe anytime soon but if I do go, I might make a side trip to Bastone.

Monday, November 22, 2004

Snakes! why did it have to be snakes?

Last year I read a stow aobut how nile monitors were turning up in the Everglades, apparently now its Burmese pythons popping up. Well, on the upside, at least the the alligators have something new to eat. click on title for the article.

Tuesday, October 05, 2004

The xprize is over. Long live the X-cup!

Looks like the folks behing the x-prize are trying to turn it into an annual competition.http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/space/10/05/spaceshipone.race.ap/index.html

Monday, October 04, 2004

SpaceshipOne claims X-prize

Well, it's over. Spaceship flew successfully this morning winning the X-prize. http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/space/10/04/spaceshipone.attempt.cnn/index.html
Mad props to Alien for sending me the story.

Saturday, October 02, 2004

Trouble down on the ant farm

We hear lots of stories of native species getting crowed out by exoctic "invasive" species. Here's one where local bugs got the better of a museum's prized colony of army ants. And shame on those enytomologists for not understanding how badass dermistids are. They work in a frick'n natural history museum whe dermistids are both a tool for cleaning bones and a meance because the eat nearly everything else. http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/10/02/MNG4M92UQC1.DTL

Trouble down on the ant farm

We hear lots of stories of native species getting crowed out by exoctic "invasive" species. Here's one where local bugs got the better of a museum's prized colony of army ants. And shame on those enytomologists for not understanding how badass dermistids are. They work in a frick'n natural history museum whe dermistids are both a tool for cleaning bones and a meance because the eat nearly everything else. http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/10/02/MNG4M92UQC1.DTL

Trouble down on the ant farm

We hear lots of stories of native species getting crowed out by exoctic "invasive" species. Here's one where local bugs got the better of a museum's prized colony of army ants. And shame on those enytomologists for not understanding how badass dermistids are. They work in a frick'n natural history museum whe dermistids are both a tool for cleaning bones and a meance because the eat nearly everything else. http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/10/02/MNG4M92UQC1.DTL