Tornadoes are a common occurrence in much of the United States and a rare occurrence in much of the rest of the country (even Boise, ID gets them on occasion), but something weird was caught on film in 2010. A Mississippi man, Daniel Blake Fitzhugh, got a picture of a rare weather phenomenon called a roll cloud, a horizontal circulating cloud that forms over water or at the edge of thunderstorms. You can find them off the coast of Queensland, Australia pretty commonly in the fall, but in this case it was the thunderstorm variety. (Scientific American)

As if performance enhancing drugs weren’t a big enough problem for professional sports, the new challenge is (or will soon be) gene “doping.” Unlike hormones and other substances, the only way to test for it would be with muscle biopsies, not the more conventional urine or blood samples. Of course, if you’re like me, then you probably don’t care. (New Scientist)

The world’s smallest and rarest dolphin subspecies (Cephalorhynchus hectori maui or Maui’s dolphin) population has dropped from an estimated 111 down to only 55 in just 7 years time. They are found off the coast of New Zeeland and are primarily threatened by fixed gill nets. Unfortunately for them, they only live 20 years, only reach sexual maturity after seven to nine years, and only give birth every three years. At that rate, even under the best of circumstances a female could at most produce five offspring. While the low birth rate obviously wasn’t a problem for a long time, it certainly is now. (Scientific American)

Human embryonic stem cells have eased Parkinson’s disease like symptoms in monkeys in Japan, recovering 20 – 45% of the movement they had lost prior to treatment. The team is hoping to start human clinical trials in four to six years. (New Scientist)

Einstien’s complete archives at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem has finally been fully archived, digitized, and are going on line. (Washington Post)

When the US Defense Department takes something seriously, then it might be time to pull your head out of your ass. The current project, only a year in, is to create a program to map out climate change vulnerabilities and conflicts in Africa. (Scientific American)