What or who do we fear the most? In a world that is largely driven by fear, it makes sense to probe the nature of this fear, and what keeps us up at night.
Our perception is that when one fear is alleviated, another will rise to the top. Human nature will never allow us to […]

A Texas woman who said she was forced to remove a nipple ring with pliers in order to board an airplane has called for an apology by federal security agents and a civil rights investigation.
Mandi Hamlin, 37, said she was trying to board a flight from Lubbock to Dallas on Feb. 24 when she […]

This appears not to be a joke: the Quantum Sleeper is a bed that hermetically seals itself as you sleep to protect you from “Bio-Chemical terrorist attack,” “natural disaster,” “kidnappers/stalkers” (only those who don’t possess a forklift, surely) and affords “Bulletproof ‘Saferoom’ protection.”

Total advertising spending in the US flatlined in 2007, growing by just 0.2% compared with 2006, according to TNS Media Intelligence.
In the fourth quarter of 2007, total US advertising spending actually fell by 0.1% compared with the same period in 2006.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZbFqQwrxao

This drum table will certainly get on your nerves much more than that pesky colleague who has developed this nasty habit of drumming his fingers on the table throughout the entire day. Well, at least this drum table produces way more authentic sounds, but seriously - unless you’re a modern musician who finds inspiration from […]

Researchers say they have found a recording of a human voice that predates Thomas Edison’s first recording by almost twenty years!

If life on Earth was not strange enough, nature occasionally throws a very unusual creation into the genetic mix.
This ‘wolphin’ and ‘Shetbra’ are two examples of rare hybrids created when animals have mated across the species divide.
Although it is extremely rare, animals occasionally succeed in producing offspring with mates from closely related species. Scientists believe […]

Men use public bathrooms decorated with female mannequins at a shopping center in Sao Joao da Madeira, northern. You might be surprised to come across a scantily clad model in a public bathroom, but shoppers at Portugal’s Eight Avenue mall in Sao Joao da Madeira are beginning to like it. Spread across the mens’ […]

Eight of the 10 largest donors so far to the U.S. presidential campaigns are Wall Street banks, led by Goldman Sachs, according to research on Thursday from a political watchdog group.
Goldman and its executives have pumped $1.7 million into the races, with 70 percent going to Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, despite former CEO […]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUSTXUis_ys

You’ve probably been sitting there all morning trying to decide how to make a robot out of a toothbrush. Yeah, me too. Well, you’re in luck.
 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmVaLp8icoU

Boston Dynamics has released a prototype of an all-terrain robot, BigDog. The quadruped robot is equipped with a computer featuring sensors that aid its movements over harsh terrain. The robot is powered by a gasoline engine that drives the hydraulic system.

Artist Bert Simons creates these stunning sculptures using the same technique as developers would use when creating a 3D game. But takes it a step further and back into the physical world by printing them out.

One of our favorite new blogs, WebUrbanist, got a new post about 20 creative (and somewhat bizarre) furniture made from recycled materials.
The four above are: light made from old fluorescent light tubes by Castor Canadensis design collective, a Lamponi lamp made from an old iron, a shopping cart chair by reestore, and a bicycle […]

A math theorem called the Road Coloring Problem, first conjectured by Benjamin Weiss and Roy Adler in 1970 was finally solved in 2007 … by Avraham Trakhtman, a mathematician who worked as a night watchman after he immigrated to Israel:

Alexander Lervik’s MyBrain lamp is modeled on his own brain, as run off a 3D printer.

The tooth artists at Heward Dental Lab can create custom handpainted artwork on your teeth. They have been in business for over 30 years and state “We have found that there is a lack of true artists in our industry. Our technicians were trained first to be artists and then taught how to construct teeth.”
They […]

What do you get your favorite chiropractor or surgeon for Christmas?  Well, the Spine Lamp may be the perfect gift.
But if you think this is unusual, check out the one after the jump.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fefg-P06ygc

Shougaku Ichinensei, a Japanese magazine for 1st graders, always comes with a special learning toy, and this month it was an awesome Finger Piano. Here’s the video.
Another video after the jump proving beyond the shadow of a doubt it’s practically a fully functional piano you wear on your hand.
 

A gold calender ring design, with the three rings rotating independently. The date is adjusted manually.

Light (here from a red laser) hits the Light-Capturing Ribbon,
then reflects back off the surface of the glass and illuminates the silicon matrix.
An MIT researcher has found a way to significantly improve the efficiently of an important type of silicon solar cells while keeping costs about the same. The technology is being commercialized by a […]

Dog Powered Car
Ars Technica analyzes the Patent Reform Act that has passed the House and is being debated in the Senate. Unfortunately for those longing for real, meaningful patent reform, the bill comes up short in some significant ways. Despite the heated rhetoric on both sides, it is unclear if the legislation will do much […]

A fall 2007 study conducted by Convio, Sea Change Strategies and Edge Research has found a number of online marketing opportunities for non-profit organizations.
Of the donors surveyed, 72% said that donating online is more efficient. More than half said they prefer to give online.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h45UrpBsCKI

This working sculpture of the human heart is both fascinating and disgusting.
 

Across the United States, Muslims who find that a public school education clashes with their religious or cultural traditions have turned to home schooling. That choice is intended as a way to build a solid Muslim identity away from the prejudices that their children, boys and girls alike, can face in schoolyards.

Guy Kawasaki: There is an art to sucking up. Done too blatantly it will backfire. Done too weakly, you won’t get what you want. The perfect suck up contains the following elements: