• Gardak! To learn about children and language, Dad speaks to son only in Klingon for first three years of the child’s life.
• In Soviet Russia, blog writes you! Maksim Suraev, a Russian cosmonaut, joins the blogosphere with a healthy dose of cold war humor about life on the International Space Station.
• In a case of Project Mayhem gone terribly bad, Peru police say a gang drained the fat from their murder victims and sold it on the black market for use in cosmetics.
• Wisconsin looks to become the first state to recognize an official state microbe. Of course the bacterium, Lactococcus lactis, ferments the state’s $18 billion per year cheese industry.
• An Italian art collector found a mummified tooth, thumb, and finger of Galileo Galilei that have been missing since 1905, according to Florence’s History of Science museum.
• Today is Friday the 13th—again. It’s the third and final time that Friday falls on the 13th this year. Yep, three times a year is rare, happening only once every 11 years.
• Paraskavedekatriaphobia got you down? You’re in good company at least. FDR, Henry Ford, and Napoleon all avoided doing anything important on Friday the 13th.
• Avoiding travel or business on Friday the 13th are just two examples of how superstitious people can get over the number 13.
• Speaking of triskaidekaphobia, it’s just one in a long list of bizarre phobias that may or may not actually exist.
• So is Friday the 13th actually dangerous? Some scientists are actually trying to answer this question.One group found that females are more likely to die in car crashes on Friday the 13th, but the study was later debunked.
• Where’s my fur coat? Hairless bear in Germany is the saddest thing you’ll see today.
• “Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination” opens at the California Museum of Science. On display is a giant Darth Vader mask made of old electronics. All lesser nerds tremble in its presence.
• I did what last night? Woman has a terrible case of the morning afters—transient global amnesia to be exact—that can be triggered by sex.
• Will learning foreign languages be irrelevant one day? Space-age glasses that translate foreign languages are under development.
• If the hairless bear weirded you out, then put a smile on your face with these cute little narcoleptic meerkats that fall asleep while standing up.
• Sure, haunted houses can be scary, but for a real fright, turn to scientists.
• Sex offenders really aren’t anything to fear on Halloween, according to new research.
• Take a look at some of the spookiest species discovered this year.
• No costume idea? How about the iguyPhone.
• And in the odd event that teenagers don’t smash your pumpkin, do it your self…with a catapult.
Image: iStockphoto
• Hit the red-light district on the cheap: Berlin brothels are offering discounts to “green” customers that arrive on bike.
• New robotic prosthetic hand lets users regain their sense of touch.
• Do space flights make people crazy? The European Space Agency is looking for a few volunteers to spend 520 days in total isolation to study space travel’s psychological effects.
• Going green? Not if you own a pet. A new book argues that owning a dog has the same carbon footprint as driving 6,000 miles a year in a Land Rover.
• Mix & match brains: Scientists try to create a bird chimera to study the evolution of birdsong.
• Waste not, want not: Stockholm burns culled bunnies for heating fuel.
• Helicopters search for radioactive rabbit poop near the Hanford nuclear reservation. Workers to begin removing the poop soon, which might be the worst job ever.
• Mathematician predicts an ESPN fantasy—a Dodgers-Yanks World Series. FOX Sports also has its fingers crossed.
• Doctors enjoy the five-fingered discount by pocking watches, severed hands from hospitals.
• Think technology is invasive now? A new camera is under development that could capture your entire life.
• Giant blobs of mucus are invading the oceans. Yes, you read that right—giant blobs of mucus. Movie version coming soon.
• Hey, Obama won the Nobal Peace Prize! And it’s taken over Twitter!
• Forget polygraphs: Art projects are the new lie detector tests.
• New spectrometer-laden scalpel can actually sniff out tumors as it cuts.
• And now, for something completely different: Miami has the hottest and least intelligent people in the nation, according to a completely opinion-based unscientific survey done by Travel & Leisure.
• ZOMG! U.K. court tweets its ruling against a Twitter impostor.
• Nerds rejoice as “time-telescope” is unveiled, possibly changing the way data is shared on the interwebs.
• Want some light? Cut your finger: New vampire lamp runs on human blood.
• Big brother satellites can spot illegal toxic waste from space.
• Kids that pig out on candy are more likely to be violent adults, says a new correlative study that has enraged sweet tooths everywhere.
• The “iFart” v. “Pull My Finger” legal battle comes to a close. The solution? Release a new app, “Clear the Air.”
• He’s ba-ack: Kirk Cameron defends his nutbag anti-evolution claims, and proposed vandalism.
• How Wal-Mart gift cards are being used to battle STDs.
• Can Xbox 360 fight heart disease?
• Indonesian woman gives birth to a 19-pound baby. As in, 19 pounds AT BIRTH.
• The Huffington Post launches No Impact Challenge: Can you make no environmental impact for a week?
• One market that has boomed in the recession: marijuana growing.
• Think you can hide in modern society? Good luck.
• Digitizing patient medical records? YES PLEASE!
• Isabella Rossellini’s legendary bug porn, profiled in depth.
• Want to make more money? Try being nice to other people (seriously).
• Happy 25th birthday, DNA fingerprinting! Now change.
• And finally, 18 awesome animated mad scientists (not that we’re supporting stereotypes that all scientists are crazy…just the animated ones).
