Chips made from
Every household is filled with dozens of silicon-based electronics, whose main component is usually a silicon-based transistor. But now, a Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute student’s invention could replace this technology with a new generation of transistors that will not only cut energy consumption but also work under extreme conditions.
Weixiao Huang has made a breakthrough [...]

Enhanced Reading Experience

Designed to enhance the learning to read experience LeapFrog’s next generation Tag Reading System uses special dot-printed books and a stylus fitted with an Infrared camera and speaker to allow children to hear the words of the story and read along.
The portable gadget is small enough for little hands and able to be [...]

Steady There Skipper

Puzzle alarm clock: the simple, profoundly irritating idea at its heart is easy enough to guess, but why, then, is the puzzle itself so simple? It’s a toddler’s learning toy, a matter of bashing three shapes into the corresponding holes. Perhaps the idea is to force you to retrieve them from the other [...]

Amazing theater trick
Japanese television has an extra wierd twist that is hard to describe.  Second video after the jump.

 
 We know all the toilets in Japan that have built-in bidets, but how many come with remotes?  

 
 
Scientists of the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) in Leipzig and the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in Pasadena succeeded in capturing syntrophic (means “feeding together”) microorganisms that are known to dramatically reduce the oceanic emission of methane into the atmosphere.
 

Birdie Bottom Barrier

Polly want a cracker? Unfortunately, it’ll make Polly poop all over your house the minute you let her out of her cage! Hardly seems fair that your concerns for Polly’s well being should be completely at odds with your desire to live a squalor-free life. If you love your little bird and want [...]

The New Cool Way To Tell Time…If You Can

 
The latest funky electronic timepiece to surface from watch importer TokyoFlash – the Oberon SS is a real stunner. Not only does the watch feature a new way to tell time, it looks damn good doing it.

 
This weeks special on designer babies includes the no-cry feature,
along with the pick-up-after-yourself gene, and extra tan skin
News that scientists have for the first time genetically altered a human embryo is drawing fire from some watchdog groups that say it’s a step toward creating “designer babies”. But an author of the study says the work [...]

 
MacGyver wishes he had one of these
As multitools go the Spyderco Byrdwrench doesn’t resemble any other pocket tool on the market. Unlike standard multitool fare it has a full-sized knife blade that opens/closes one handed and locks open like a real pocketknife.

Judging body language, a key to most relationships, is missing online
An April 2008 Harris Interactive survey conducted on behalf of WooMe identified some problems with online dating and making a first impression on the Internet.
More than 70% of the single US online adults surveyed said flirting online was more difficult than in person.

Approximately 100,000 LEGO pieces were used to build this instrument 
With the exception of the wire strings, this instrument is entirely constructed out of LEGO parts–the keyboard, jacks, jack rack, jack rail, plectra, soundboard, bridge, hitch pins, tuning pins, wrestplank, nut, case, legs, lid, lid stick, and music stand are all built out of interlocking ABS [...]

 
Space vegies such as this could solve world hunger, or just create more leftovers
Scientists have said that vegetables grown in zero-gravity conditions in space can grow to huge sizes, which could help solve the world’s food crisis.
According to a report in the Telegraph , it is thought that the near zero gravity conditions in space result [...]

 
Apparently baby have a way of sucking the arthritis out of their moms
Breastfeeding has unplanned benefits like protecting nursing mothers from rheumatoid arthritis, according to a new study.
The study found that women who had breastfed for 13 months or more were half as likely to get rheumatoid arthritis as those who had never breastfed. Those [...]