I can’t believe I’m saying this, but there was just way too much science news in the past week. There were great articles that I could have included, but all the high tech stuff really caught my attention.

• Atlantis is getting a one day extension. This will allow the shuttle crew to unload almost 5 tons of cargo and equipment before returning the earth. I’m still sad that the shuttle program will be over on July 21. (Source)
• Bioengineers have made tiny artificial hybrid human/mouse livers to allow for more accurate results in preclinical drug tests in animals. (Source)
• Researchers at MIT have printed solar panels on paper. What’s even more surprising is that this cost little more than inkjet printing. Could you imagine a house that has every exterior surface covered with solar panels, including the window blinds? (Source)
• The US Navy has tested a F/A-18D equipped with the avionics and software that will be used in the X-47B. The test was a successful automated landing on the USS Eisenhower with a human flight crew on board, just in case. This is amazing considering how difficult carrier landings are. In two years they will start testing carrier landings of the actual X-47B. (Source)
• South Korea schools are going paperless by 2015. This includes digitizing all text books. What’s really cool is that their new high tech classrooms will allow kids that are home sick to still watch the video-streamed classes. (Source)

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• Doctors in Sweden have just given a patient a synthetic trachea made of a polymeric nanocomposite material and stem cells extracted from his bone marrow. The transplant was needed after the 36 year old man had to have his own trachea removed due to cancer. As a smoker, this is very exciting for me. Speaking of smoking, I think I’m going to step outside now… (Source)
• A new study suggests that in species that have the option of being asexual or sexual they need some encouragement, like parasites and pathogens, to opt for the more difficult sexual option. So, if it hadn’t been for these nuisances, sex wouldn’t have been needed and wouldn’t have proven to be a selective advantage. So the next time you get laid, be sure to thank those blessed pathogens. (Source)
• New pictures of a blackspot tuskfish provide the first evidence of a fish using a tool. The use of rocks to smash clamshells put this fish in the same elite club as humans, chimpanzees, crows, and octopuses. (Source)
• A new study by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography has found that the floodwaters of the Colorado River may have been responsible for the more frequent San Andreas earthquakes of the past. This flooding has been stopped by the natural formation of the Salton Sea almost 100 years ago and the numerous flood control damns upstream of it. (Source)