Assorted links: Protaxites, ciliate sex and publication tweets

Still procrastinating with Sunday Protist, which means I'm actually procrastinating with all the real work I should be doing right now...but here's some random stuff my internet wanderings have taken me to!

Giant columnar fungi(Protaxites) may have actually just been rolled mats of liverworts -- Catalogue of Organisms. Intriguing indeed!

Really nice article on ciliate sex by Olivia Judson. When I first read her dino article earlier, I was like "holy crap a science writer actually got the facts straight! o_O" And then I noticed she's a practicing biologist -- never mind the 'writer gets facts straight' headline. On the other hand, 'scientist can actually write' is in itself quite an impressive headline, so it's no less amazing!

#sci140: A paper in 140 characters (new publishing model). A bunch of geeks decide it's about time to put Twitter to good use -- can you summarise a classic paper (or your own) in 133 characters or less? (7 letters go to the hashtag)

Some of my favourites:

• SelectAgent #sci140 Salt of DNA structure= double helix. Strands anti-parallel; has implications. (PS Rosie didn't help)
• michaelgrr We did some messing about with wire and stuff, found double helix fits the Xray patterns of DNA. Rest is obvious. Suck that, Linus! #sci140
• IanMulvany #sci140 dog + bell + food = saliva. Repeat. Eventually dog + bell = saliva, where's my nobel prize?
• labgrrl Oops, Who would've thought that absolute power corrupts absolutely? (Zimbardo,1971) #sci140
• sciencebase: Dropped heavy and light ball at Pisa; saw landed at same time. Peer review problems now, especially after telescope incident. #sci140
• pssalgado cat in box + decay triggered poison. box closed: cat alive & dead. when box opened: cat live or dead #Schrodinger #sci140
• michiexile #sci140 Complete. Concise. Consistent. Pick two. - Gödel 1931
• aeporreca It’s impossible to determine whether a guy with an infinite piece of paper will ever stop doing maths. http://bit.ly/9qKV5E #sci140
• bparsia All your theorems are belong to us (Euclid, 300BC) #sci140
• axiomsofchoice p,q∈ℕ;p²=2q²⊧p∈2ℤ;gcd(p,q)=1⊧q∈2ℤ+1;∵4∣a²,a∈2ℤ⊧q∈2ℤ⊧⊥;∴√2∉ℚ;QED #sci140 http://ff.im/fFJeG
  

Btw, it's a competition. Get crackin'! (I don't have Twitter so I'll just watch...)