Tech Talk
August 15, 2008 11:08 AM

Giant Glacier Screen; Bigfoot Found? It Must Be Friday

Another week comes to close and it's certainly not without some quirky sci-tech stories to end on a bang. First, you've got to give the Germans credit for trying whatever might work when it comes to staving off the effects of global warming. Scientists are reportedly using a giant screen to trap cold air over a large glacier in the Swiss Alps. If nothing else, they hope the process will be slowed. Technically, it's supposed to make a difference. But obviously on a practical level it's hard to see it used on a much larger scale. Whether you believe it will work or not, that story's got nothing on the believability of the latest Bigfoot tale.

Yes, three people in Georgia are claiming to have found the legendary creature known as Bigfoot. They apparently have a body, DNA, and plenty of photographs to back up their claim. There's even a press conference scheduled for today. Think there are some skeptics? Um, yeah, just a few. Hoax or discovery? You decide. (I'm sure there'll be an update on this story.)

Interesting discussion over at Slashdot.org about whether spam has really decreased or in some cases disappeared. Certainly the botnets around the world haven't shut down for business, but could their operators be looking for new ways to make (steal) money? I must say our filters at CBS work well, in fact, sometimes a little too well. Like when an e-mail from a friend gets the dubious "spam" distinction put into the subject line. Sometimes I hit reply and forget to delete it first -- can be kind of insulting to the recipient!

And finally, the New York Times has an article about the first smartphone to be powered by Google's Android and supported by T-Mobile. Videos clips of the smartphone, reportedly made by HTC, have been appearing online and generating a lot of buzz. (That pull out keyboard sure looks handy.) Is it a worth adversary to the iPhone? Apparently we'll soon find out -- it may hit stores as early as October.

That's all for this week -- stay connected!
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bigfoot ,
georgia ,
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by darby42164 August 16, 2008 5:48 AM EDT
As a scientist I watch the bigfoot, yeti, lochness monster etc. with amusment. I saw an excellent article regarding bigfoot from an actual monkey/gorilla expert. She said in a nutshell, that the habitat where these sitings occur are not ones that likely can support a large primate (in terms of types and quantities of food). Second, inspection of footprints etc. have all revealed hoaxes basically. It turns out that a bare foot in mud can leave a very unique sort of fingerprint showing the structure and even folds in the skin. None of which are seen in big foot prints. And finally, from me, a biologist, all of these creatures almost certainly cannot exist based on genetics. A population of a species has to be large enough (have enough individuals) to have sufficient genetic diversity. When populations get too small, they go extinct anyway, even with mating due to genetic conditions which doom the species. Bigfoot would have to be a very, very small population. Certainly not large enough to provide the needed genetic diversity. If there were enough of them, believe me, you would be running into them once in a while (not these highly questionable sitings).
Regards,
Bill
www.breakthroughwatch.com
Reply to this comment
by darby42164 August 16, 2008 5:47 AM EDT
As a scientist I watch the bigfoot, yeti, lochness monster etc. with amusment. I saw an excellent article regarding bigfoot from an actual monkey/gorilla expert. She said in a nutshell, that the habitat where these sitings occur are not ones that likely can support a large primate (in terms of types and quantities of food). Second, inspection of footprints etc. have all revealed hoaxes basically. It turns out that a bare foot in mud can leave a very unique sort of fingerprint showing the structure and even folds in the skin. None of which are seen in big foot prints. And finally, from me, a biologist, all of these creatures almost certainly cannot exist based on genetics. A population of a species has to be large enough (have enough individuals) to have sufficient genetic diversity. When populations get too small, they go extinct anyway, even with mating due to genetic conditions which doom the species. Bigfoot would have to be a very, very small population. Certainly not large enough to provide the needed genetic diversity. If there were enough of them, believe me, you would be running into them once in a while (not these highly questionable sitings).
Regards,
Bill
www.breakthroughwatch.com
Reply to this comment
by obamarama7 August 15, 2008 5:56 PM EDT
http://tinyurl.com/5ozy24 - video of the beast shortly before its demise!
Reply to this comment
by meek33 August 15, 2008 3:51 PM EDT
Yes its true Bigfoot has been found and you will never guess which candidate he supports.
http://www.myhauntsite.com
Reply to this comment

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