I've got an idea for the next shark attack movie. It takes place in the uterus of a grey nurse shark, told from the point of view of shark embryos that are being eaten by other shark embryos. And this is actually more realistic than most shark attack movies. Australian scientists have been trying to find ways to save the grey nurse sharks from extinction and they're realizing that one of the problems is this intra-uterine cannibalism. As New Scientist reports, "Its embryos have a nasty habit of... READ ON

 The Wired NextFest is coming up September 29th and the current issue has bits on some of the featured inventions. One of these inventions, the LifeStraw, gives us hope that it might actually be possible to significantly reduce the number of people suffering from waterborne illnesses like Typhoid, Cholera and Dysentery. This could be huge for the one billion people in the world who have no access to safe drinking water. According to the developers of the device, the LifeStraw kills 99.9% of the... READ ON

          I just read a story over at LiveScience about polar bears experiencing genital shrinkage because of industrial pollutants: Polar bears from northernmost Norway, western Russia and east Greenland are among the most polluted animals in the Arctic, as they feast on ringed seals and bearded seals. The blubber of these seals accumulates high levels of organic pollutants loaded with halogens such as chlorine. These organohalogens can act like hormones. The scientists... READ ON

Not sure if you've caught this, but the math world is positively abuzz because a reclusive Russian math scholar named Grigori Perelman has turned down the so-called "Nobel Prize of Math." Known as the Fields Medal, the prize is valued at $15,000 (Canadian), and considered one of the discipline's most prestigious awards. And while the move is essentially the academic equivalent of Jonathan Franzen turning down the Oprah Book Club, it might not be the only award Perelman turns down... READ ON