Krulwich Wonders: “Suppose there’s a vanishing species of animal you love. Its population is down to a scary few, the last survivors are hiding deep in the wilderness, and you want to protect them, save them from extinction.

And let’s further suppose, that one day, you happen upon a small remnant, the last of these wild animals, and by sheer luck, one of them is healthy, strong, beautiful, a true survivor. What would you do? Cage it? Trap it? Let it go?

I’m going to tell you a story — it’s a true story, about William Temple Hornaday and the animal he loved, the American buffalo, but this tale is so improbable, so strange, I can’t quite explain what happened. It makes no sense to me.” (via  NPR).

“A few pig cells, a single surgery and a rigorous daily workout: They’re the three ingredients that patients will need to re-grow fresh, functional slabs of their own muscle, courtesy of Pentagon-backed science that’s already being used to rebuild parts of people.” (via Danger Room | Wired).

“Astronomer David Nesvorny from the Southwest Research Institute in Texas believes that the solar system might have once contained a fifth gigantic planet, which was ejected deep into the galaxy in a moment of cosmic turmoil.

By looking at the population of the Kuiper belt — the icy-cold ring of asteroids beyond Neptune — and by studying the historical fingerprints left on the craters of the Moon, Nesvorny was able to piece together clues about our solar system’s adolescence…” (via Wired).

‘An extreme surfer is set to earn a place in the record books after riding a 90-foot wave.

Garrett McNamara caught the monster wave during the ZON North Canyon Project in Praia do Norte, Nazare, Portugal.

The coastline is home to a deep water canyon which funnels large swells from the Atlantic Ocean, creating record-breaking waves such as the one McNamara rode.’ (via Mail Online).

Also: Watch the video (YouTube).

Related:

• Hawaiian Garrett McNamara surfs a 90-foot wave off the coast of Portugal.McNamara has been working with the Portuguese Hydrographic Institute to understand how the waves reach such record-breaking heights at this particular point By KILIAN DOYLE (theboldcorsicanflame.wordpress.com)
• Garrett McNamara Sets World Record, Surfs 90-Foot Tall Wave [Video] (inquisitr.com)
• Garrett McNamara Breaks World Record For Largest Wave Ever Surfed (Video) (dailypicksandflicks.com)
• Surfer Garrett McNamara rides world’s biggest wave in Portugal – video (mirror.co.uk)
• Surfer Survives Towering 90-Foot Wave (abcnews.go.com)
• Scientists peer into mystery of giant waves off the coast of Portugal (theextinctionprotocol.wordpress.com)
• Surfer breaks the world record riding a 90-foot wave [Video] (thenextweb.com)
• Watch: Surfer rides world’s biggest wave (cbsnews.com)
• Surfer breaks world record by riding 90-foot wave (newslite.tv)
• VIDEO: American surfer sets world wave riding record in Portugal – 90 feet (3news.co.nz)

We won’t have another moment so elevenish for a hundred years (unless you don’t use military time and will observe it again tonight). Eleven is the first number which cannot be counted with a human’s eight fingers and two thumbs additively. In English, it is the smallest positive integer requiring three syllables and the largest prime number with a single-morpheme name. Numerologists believe there is something quite powerful about the time 11:11, having to do with synchronicity. Imagine what they will be thinking today.

Related:

• What’s All The HYPE? (khamillion.wordpress.com)
• 11/11/11: What Does November 11, 2011 Really Mean? (VIDEO) (blippitt.com)
• Happy Super Luck Day! (And enjoy it because you’ll never see it again!) (michigantelephone.wordpress.com)
• 11-02-2011: Happy Palindrome Day! (cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com)
• Is the 11-11-11 Phenomenon Real? (amog.com)
• 11.11.11 Is Just Another Day! Period (techie-buzz.com)
• Eleven Eleven (wellheregoes.wordpress.com)
• How People Are Testing Their Luck On 11/11/11 (huffingtonpost.com)
• ‘Passionate’ date to tie the knot (mirror.co.uk)