The Orrery

George Washington's childhood home found

The foundation of the building George Washington grew up in has been located on Ferry Farm near Fredericksburg, Va.

Alas, among the thousands of artifacts - including wig curlers and toothbrush handles made of bone - there was no sign of an axe head or the stump of a cherry tree. That never-tell-a-lie story is an urban legend.

And the one where he threw a silver dollar across the Rappahannock River (or was it the Potomac)? They weren't minted until he was 62.

Biologist saves bear from drowning

This one earns the best "Let me tell you about the time..." bragging rights ever. A 375-lb black bear was hanging around a residential area south of Tallahassee looking for food, so biologists from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission shot it with a tranquilizer dart.

Then the bear stumbled into the Gulf of Mexico and started swimming for Cancun. Biologist Adam Warwick knew the animal was going to be unconscious soon, so he did the only logical thing...he pulled off his shirt, dove in after it and pulled the now-comatose animal back to shore.

Lucky for him bears are basically big bags of fat covered in claws and fur, so they float. Even luckier: a backhoe just happened to be nearby, ready to load the bear onto a truck. It was eventually relocated to Osceola National Forest.

Kids: being a biologist is seldom this exciting. But every so often...

The Indonesian Mimic Octopus

I have to say, this is one of the coolest creatures I've come across in a while. The Indonesian Mimic Octopus (Thaumoctopus mimicus) was only discovered in 1998, and it can imitate different species of dangerous marine life: a sea snake, a lionfish and...a flounder.

Well, mostly dangerous. Dangerous and tasty.

Octopuses are definitely smart. Some people think they're even (kinda) conscious.

Mountain biking in Forest Park

Yesterday afternoon the sky cleared after an overcast morning and I went for a mountain bike ride in Forest Park. It's one of the biggest urban forest parks in the country: over eight square miles of old-growth and secondary forest spread on a hillside overlooking the Willamette River and no less than three snow-capped volcanoes.

I couldn't help grinning as I rolled down the fire roads through glades of ferns, hemlocks, firs and cedars, everything spotlit by sunlight through the canopy. It's not bad-assed mountain biking; it's just one more thing I love about this city. As cliche as it sounds - another newcomer singing Portland's praises, *yawn* - I keep realizing how glad I am we moved here.

Now if you'll excuse me I have to walk down to the farmer's market and grab some locally made organic goat's milk cheese and go watch the sun set over Mount Hood.

Greenland ice cores show massive global temperature swings

You think it's getting hot now? According to ice cores taken in Greenland, about 14,700 years ago global temperatures soared 22 degrees F in just 50 years, then dropped to deep-freeze conditions, then soared again about 11,700 years ago.

We're definitely having a drastic effect on the climate, but these things can take on a life of their own. Who knows what kind of snowball we're kicked off?

Five places to see before you die (Americans not allowed)

From Mogadishu to Mandalay, Foreign Policy lists the top tourist spots that Americans aren't allowed to visit.

By "aren't allowed" they apparently mean either "are technically forbidden from" or "are highly advised not to."

Cuba, for example, I wouldn't exactly call off-limits. You just don't want the US government learning you flew there through Mexico or Canada and levying you a fat fine for "trading with the enemy."

And by that second definition, I'd say a lot more places could be on here: Sudan, Congo, Algeria, Afghanistan. The list goes on and on.

Cool Science T-Shirts

Some great T-shirt designs from Wearscience.

Because isn't riding a giant bucking bacterium and rocking out with METALBOT-A5000 the reason we all got into science in the first place?

And a reminder that it's always important to present both sides of scientific debates:

Wet & Wild - USA Today's Open Air magazine

I have another cover story in Open Air , USA Today's new active-lifestyle quarterly. It starts on page 34 in their handy online reader, and covers all the different kinds of fun you can have on rivers, from whitewater to scenic floating.

Not all the interviews made it into the final piece. One guy told me about how the men in his family have gotten together every summer for 50 years on the same river in Canada. The tradition started when his grandfather and some of his Navy buddies from WWII took a few surplus rafts up there for some R&R.

Another one, a champion kayaker, told me about facing death on the Upper Nile near Jinja, Uganda, at a rapid called "The Bad Place." It sucked him in, tossed him around like a sock in a washing machine until he thought he was a goner, then spit him out for no reason.

I rafted that stretch last summer, taking a break from researching the book, but I'm not sure if we hit that particular rapid or not. It was burly whitewater, anyway. Too bad a huge new hydropower dam will kill lots of the rapids.

On kimchi

Kimchi, Korea's ubiquitous traditional dish, has never been high on my list of things to eat. In fact, since it's made of liberally spiced and fermented vegetables - think sour cabbage that makes your eyes water - it's usually in the same category as haggis and pickled pig's feet.

But this piece on the Walrus magazine website has me reconsidering. One of the healthiest foods on the planet? Kimchi in space? Sounds like fun...or at least a little less frightening.

The real Indiana Jones

The new Indiana Jones flick isn't the greatest in the series, maybe even the worst (although #2, after the opening sequence, comes close). Still, it does make archaeology look more exciting than being in a rock band.

McSweeney's asks, what if Indy was a real professor?

Though Dr. Jones conducts "field research" far more often than anyone else in the department, he has consistently failed to report the results of his excavations, provide any credible evidence of attending the archaeological conferences he claims to attend, or produce a single published article in any peer-reviewed journal.

And now it looks like Hiram Bingham, Indy's real-life inspiration, didn't even discover Machu Picchu in 1911 like everyone thinks.