Unlike all of the other emperor penguins known, a young penguin recently discovered in Antarctica was born without a tuxedo, so to speak. Emperor penguin chicks have a grayish down coat with dark wing and tail feathers, but this odd bird was white. Scientists almost didn't spot it because it blends in so well with the icy terrain. The first known white emperor penguin was discovered by Antarctic researcher Gerald Kooyman, and he's been doing polar research for the past 30 years. "It was really a spectacular bird," Kooyman said. "There are thousands of penguins in the colony and they are quite spread out. But we were counting every chick, and that's how we spotted it." The chick was still young, only abut 5 months old and two feet tall and had fledged. Adult birds stand about three feet tall and weigh about 65 pounds. Kooyman said it's unlikely the white penguin will ever be seen again because fledged birds embark on a migration that can be thousands of miles long, and few of them survive into adulthood. Those that survive don't return to the colony for four or five years. "The survival rate of the birds from the time they leave the colonly until they return is quite low, so the chances of seeing the white penguin again is really pretty low," he said. Even though the bird is white, Kooyman doesn't think it's a true albino because it doesn't have the pink eyes normally associated with albinism. Pink eyes or not, this is one special bird, and hopefully we'll see this spectacular penguin sometime around the year 2001.

Searching through Mother Nature's odd closet to find creatures that swim exquisitely well has led a team of engineers to the penguin. The result, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is a new boat powered by flippers that - as you might guess- swims really well, rather like a penguin sans feathers, guano and an appetite for fish. Designed as a student project by James Czarnowski, the penguin boat is twelve feet long and powered by two flappable flippers poking straight down from the stern. After studying penguins at the nearby New England Aquarium, Czarnowski then spent six months building a prototype. When that proved to be promising, achieving an 87% efficiency in testing tanks compared to 70% or less for vessels driven by ordinary propellers, he then got permission to build the 12-foot version. The Penguin now lies on the Charles River adjacent to MIT. Its future seems promising, as negotiations with a shipyard owner for larger vessels have begun.

Started by Dr. John Bingham of Murfreesboro, TN, who writes a monthly column for Runner's World magazine, The Penguin Brigade is a group of marathon runners whose concern is not where they finish, but when they finish. The Brigade is connected by the internet and meet for various marathons around the globe. Usually attired in a variety of penguin garb, the group runs together, trying to finish in pre-determined times. Dr. Bingham usually leads the five hour group. Recently the Brigade has been gaining notoriety around the world, and at the Myrtle Beach Marathon this past February they had a special Penguin Brigade tent. With 500 members and counting, you might want to waddle with the P.B.