主题：【欣赏】磕学美啊，就是美---1 -- ArKrXe

October 18, 2004

MOUNT ST. HELENS has been burning and steaming in recent weeks, but when will it blow its lid? Research published in the current issue of Science suggests that monitoring the isotopic content of the gases the volcano is emitting now might help predict when--and how explosively--it will erupt. The findings derive from a study of volcanic rocks spewed from the 1980 blast that contain chemical tracers detailing what happened to the magma prior to eruption.

啊，海伦，

我爱你的美丽，

我要为你拿起武器，

我、我就是高贵的惰性气体。

这是我为古希腊的美人儿海伦写的一首诗。图中的可不是她，而是一座山，非常雄性化的一座活火山。在1980年，他曾猛烈喷发，影响整个地球气候，现在，他又有复苏的迹象。变态的磕学家们兴奋不已，因为这将带来地球深处的消息，那是三个字---I am HOT!!!

October 25, 2004

FOSSIL BIRD EMBRYO, preserved in an egg-shaped space, indicates that early birds were well-developed at birth. The 121-million-year-old fossil, unearthed in northeast China, displays a large skull, developed feathers and a hardened skeleton--all precocial features. The specimen bolsters the notion that birds with relatively undeveloped, or altricial, hatchlings evolved from species with precocial young. Indeed, features of the new specimen, described in the current issue of Science, suggest that it may have even been superprecocial.

‘我是一只小小小小鸟，

想要飞却怎么样也飞不高

---因为我还在蛋壳里，

而蛋壳已经变成化石了！’

这只史前鸟的胚胎还未破壳，便已不朽，并成为老鸟（~1.2亿年）。对了，这只小老鸟在发育上非常早熟，骨骼已经硬化。我猜他是为了追求那只‘东北毛毛龙’ ，他也是中国东北的，老乡啊！

November 01, 2004

SURFACE FEATURES OF TITAN are visible in this image captured by Cassini's visual and infrared mapping spectrometer during the flyby. A methane cloud sits at the south pole. The inset shows the landing site of the Huygens probe.

Titan是太阳神，可怎么在绕着土星运行，还排第六？难道这是他老人家的行宫别院? 这里氢冷无比，布满了甲烷---就是沼气，所以我更怀疑它是太阳神的厕所，而且还是早期的，被废弃的。

November 08, 2004

A POT OF COSMETIC FACE CREAM used by women in ancient Rome was discovered during an archaeological dig in London (left). The cream, which the scientists posit was used as a foundation, contains refined animal fat, starch and tin oxide. According to a report in this week's issue of Nature, this form of tin has no medicinal value, which suggests it was used solely as a pigment. What is more, its nontoxic properties would have been a plus, because the health risks of lead were becoming recognized by second century AD. A version of the cream produced by a team at the University of Bristol (right) initially felt greasy to the touch, but soon dried to a powdery, whitish finish.

女人自古就爱美，这张图是铁证。这一盒是古罗马小妞儿用的面霜，它不含有臭名昭著的铅元素，但也无营养作用，就是让你脸白的。不由得好奇起来，不知当年的那张脸是何等的妩媚动人。哎，叹一声：“红颜易老，化妆品常存！”

November 15, 2004

FEMALE PAPER WASPS have distinctive black facial markings that correlate with their rank. Because these status symbols are relatively low cost from a biological standpoint, scientists have long wondered why there aren't more fakers--that is, low-ranking individuals masquerading as high-ranking ones--in the wild. Findings detailed in the current issue of Nature indicate that lowly wasps with experimentally altered markings were targets of considerable aggression when exposed to a dominant individual, hence revealing the cost of cheating.

都说雌性是温柔的，恬静的，并且追求平等的，恐怕这是谎言（不许打我，我是机器人）。这些雌性纸黄蜂把自己的地位变成了花纹，直接长到了脸上， 给了雄性黄蜂们一目了然的机会。

从此不再有不自量力的马路求爱者的纠缠，但也不再有灰姑娘水晶鞋的浪漫故事了。对了，为啥不提雄黄蜂呢？估计他们才是真正的平等一族---赞一声。

变态的磕学家们曾把改装过的雌蜂（当然是灰姑娘扮公主了）放入蜂群，发现她们被疯狂攻击的机会大增。你看看，何必呢？何苦呢？但这就是欺瞒必须付出的代价吧！

做个调查，西西的JJMM们，你们的花纹都是什么呢？