(from LA Times).

Detail:"The resolution of the images was not sufficient to tell which ends of the cows were pointing north, however."

Weird science news of the week

Gegear et al. studied the ability of fruitflies to detect a magnetic field. a, When trained to associate a magnetic field with a reward of sugar, wild-type flies preferentially choose to enter a tube that is bathed in a magnetic field, rather than one that is not, so long as blue light illuminates the experiment. b, The trained flies demonstrate no preference for the tubes if blue light is filtered out of the illumination. c, Genetically modified flies that lack the photoreceptor cryptochrome (which responds to blue light) do not recognize the magnetic field, even in the presence of blue light, showing that cryptochrome is essential for magnetoreception in fruitflies.

From Nature.

Kansan sticks it to election system

A simple online comic strip raises heaps for his Democratic bid.

By P.J. Huffstutter, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
July 28, 2008

OLATHE, KAN. -- When Sean Tevis decided to run for a seat in the Kansas Legislature, he faced a serious problem: money. Local political advisors warned the campaign novice that he would need a war chest of at least $26,000 to compete against his entrenched Republican rival.

It seemed like a fortune to the 39-year-old Democrat. Everyone he knew here was either on a fixed income, worried about losing a job or fretting that the nation's stumbling economy could spread to this southwestern suburb of Kansas City, Kan.

So Tevis created a droll online cartoon strip to appeal to potential supporters wherever they might be, using stick figures to represent himself, his GOP opponent and others.

In one panel, a stick-figure Tevis greets a constituent by rattling off a stream of personal facts he's found online about her -- including her birthdate, voting pattern, divorce, paycheck, credit card balances and medical history -- to illustrate his interest in protecting individual privacy.

When she slams the door in his face, the cartoon Tevis muses, "Maybe I should rethink my approach."

"I figured I'd raise a few thousand dollars, at most," for his bid to become a state representative, said Tevis, a computer systems manager who works for an industrial manufacturing company.

In fact, before he created the comic strip, Tevis spent weeks asking cash-strapped friends and family for help and walking door-to-door in the district. He raised $1,525.

The comic strip -- at www.seantevis.com/3000 -- was first posted online July 16. Today, when he files his campaign finance forms with the Kansas secretary of state's office, Tevis will report that he has raised $95,162.76 in donations through PayPal, the online service that allows payments and money transfers via the Internet.

http://scienceblogs.com/bioephemera/2008/08/electing_geeks.php

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-candidate28-2008jul28,0,4489963.story?page=1

http://www.actblue.com/page/electgeeks

http://www.donengel.com/

http://seantevis.com/kansas/3000/running-for-office-xkcd-style/