Study: Praise has been shown to trigger the same reward center of the brain as cash
Paying people a compliment appears to activate the same reward center in the brain as paying them cash, Japanese researchers said on Wednesday.
They said the study offers scientific support for the long-held assumption that people get a psychological boost from […]

Writer and author Amy Tan gets creative with creativity
 
Novelist Amy Tan digs deep into the creative process, journeying through her childhood and family history and into the worlds of physics and chance, looking for hints of where her own creativity comes from. It’s a wild ride with a surprise ending.

The Ultimate Steampunk Computer
Jake Von Slott has created a Steampunk Computer that is sure to knock the socks off any steampunk enthusiast. He took a huge 24 inch LCD monitor and crammed an entire CPU behind it and the design looks incredible. Video after the jump.
 

Photobucket Founders Alex Welch and Darren Crystal
On May 21st the DaVinci Institute will host the now infamous dual of Alex Welch and Darren Crystal, the two founders of Photobucket, who will tell the story of what it took for them to launch what is now the World’s number one photo site on the Internet. […]

 
Podcasting is a growing form of media with loyal niche markets
Although there are a few highly-rated podcasts with more than 100,000 listeners/viewers, most podcasts have far smaller audiences, highly-focused on niche interests. 
According to long-tail theory, these targeted audiences should be especially valuable to advertisers and marketers. Although the audiences are small, each listener or […]

NASA’s new nano-satellites - The Mini AERCam prototype is just 7.5 inches in diameter and weighs only 10 pounds
NASA announced today that it will team with m2mi to develop very small satellites, called nano-sats which weigh between 11 to 110lb, for the development of telecommunications and networking services in space.
NASA says […]

Mobility impaired people now have another option, thanks to Honda
Honda will showcase an experimental model of a walking assist device which could support walking for the elderly and other citizens with weakened leg muscles, at the worldly Trade Fair on Barrier Free Equipments & Rehabilitation for the Elderly & the Disabled (BARRIER FREE 2008) which […]

It looks like a box, but this robotic box is set to revolutionize the strawberry industry
Oldster farmers in Japan face increasingly tough times - few younger Japanese are willing to go into agriculture, and finding a successor to help out on the farm can be very difficult. Video after the jump.

Satellite TV coming soon to a cellphone near you
Satellite broadcaster Dish Network Corp. will test technology for digital satellite TV broadcasts to hand-held devices this summer in concert with Alcatel-Lucent.

 
 In a wide-ranging look at how children have fared in their first decade of life, a study to be released today offers a promising picture of American childhood: Sixth-graders feel safer at school. Reading and math scores are up for 9-year-olds. More preschoolers are vaccinated. Fewer are poisoned by lead. 

NCAR’s Roelof Bruintjes (left) with Abdulla Al Mangoosh, director of UAE’s Department of Water Resources Studies.
Roelof Bruintjes […]

After more than 30 years of civil war, ending in 1998, the Cambodian government has collected and destroyed more than 160,000 weapons across the country.
In the name of peace some of those weapons were donated to the PAPC. The PAPC (Peace Art Project Cambodia) is a project that was created in November of 2003 by […]

One thing most Westerners still find it hard to get used to when visiting Japan is the widespread use of surgical masks by pedestrians. Whether chasing away a cold or avoiding spring hay fever, Japanese citizens think nothing of accessorizing their Prada and Gucci with a large white facemask that would make most Americans think […]

Adam Sternbergh’s long investigative New York Magazine piece, “You Walk Wrong,” makes a compelling case for shoes as inherently damaging to your feet and spine. I have very flat feet, which has always meant problems with my hips, knees and back, and I’ve work custom orthotic inserts since I was a teenage.

Following an extended world tour in 2007, Honda’s ASIMO humanoid robot will show off its skills in 2008 by conducting the Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO). ASIMO will lead the Orchestra as it performs “Impossible Dream” to open a special concert performance with renowned cellist Yo-Yo M as a way to highlight the DSO’s nationally acclaimed […]