Various Findings (c/o Harper's Magazine, Jan 2004)
Physicists in Romania recently created gaseous plasma blobs that grow, replicate themselves, and communicate, suggesting that life might emerge in unexpected circumstances. Scientists have discovered a one-celled creature, which they call Strain 121, that can survive in temperatures up to 121 degrees centigrade, the temperature used by medical sterilization equipment. Australian and American researchers were working with a robot, located in Perth, Australia, that is controlled by rat brain tissue in a petri dish in Atlanta. Arcaelogists found evidence that Roman Britons wore socks with their sandals, and a leading zoologist declared not long ago that "homosexuals are at the pinnacle of human evolution." Scientists unveiled a rough draft of the poodle genome. The National Academy of Sciences, after studying thousands of papers on the subject, concluded that too many pets are overweight. A related study found that lesbians are more likely to get heart disease because they are generally heavier than other women.