Message in a Bottle? That's so last Century!

If you find a rubber ducky floating along the shores of your favorite beach don't be so quick to dismiss it as a toy lost by some errant child, there may be a reward for returning the buoyant sea goers. Researchers from the University of Colorado hoping to better understand global warming have release 90 of the beloved childhood toys at the Jakobshavn Isbrae glacier, one of Greenland's largest. While this may seem like a kooky idea that some hope to work, it has actually been in practice for some time and has actually been given a name by researchers, Flotsam Science. Imprinted on the rubber duckies is an email address and the promise of a reward in three different languages.

In a time of petaflop computers, billion dollar satellites and telescopes and the LHC, one can't help but laugh at the fact the best insight we have into global warming is a rubber ducky. One thing is for sure though, Ernie would be proud!