Plankton
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NASA uses space laser to study polar ocean plants
Usually when you think NASA you conjure up images of Mars and space stations. But the agency also conducts important climate research. One of those projects is the Cloud-Aerosol LIdar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP) aboard the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation (CALIPSO) satellite that measures plankton levels through clouds.
Russian official claims sea plankton was found clinging to ISS windows
There are plenty of places you'd expect to find plankton -- lakes, oceans, reruns of SpongeBob Squarepants -- but the external hull of the International Space Station probably wouldn't make your list. And yet, that's exactly where Russian cosmonauts claim to have found some, according to Russian news agency ITAR-TASS. As it happens, you may want to take that report with a grain of salt: We reached out to NASA for comment and spokesperson Dan Huot said the organization has received "zero official data" from Russia's Roscosmos space agency to corroborate these claims. Looks like it'll be a while before we actually get to the bottom of this.
plankton's nailed USB drive: perfect for handymen, frustrated computer owners
Be honest with yourself: has there ever been a time when you felt like taking a hammer to a computer of yours? Yes, of course. Apparently some of the clever minds at plankton figured out a way to let people live out that fantasy without totally destroying their partially functional machine. The "nailed" USB flash drive features 2GB of internal storage, an unmistakable design and a rather huge head to ensure that even novice nailers don't miss the target. Of course, it doesn't take any responsibility for damage incurred by inserting said drive in the previously referenced manner, but a few light taps should suffice in most instances. Pick one up now in galvanized or blued (okay, not really) for €29.50 ($46).[Via technabob]
