Having been plagued with slow internet speeds literally all my adult life, the news that scientists from the University of Sydney have found a way to make the World Wide Web 60 times faster than current top speeds only makes me more than happy.

 
 Pen-tailed Tree Shrew of the Malaysian Rain Forest
German scientists have discovered that seven species of small mammals in the rain forests of western Malaysia drink fermented palm nectar on a regular basis. For several of the species, including the pen-tailed tree shrew, the nectar, which can have an alcohol content approaching that of beer, is [...]

Yummy Eel?

It’s the hottest season of the year in Japan, and that means it’s eel season.
A canned drink called “Unagi Nobori,” or “Surging Eel,” made by Japan Tobacco Inc., hit the nation’s stores this month just ahead of Japan’s annual eel-eating season, company spokesman Kazunori Hayashi said.

 
“There is still no cure for the common birthday” – John Glenn, astronaut & U.S. Senator
 
There may be nothing you can do about growing old, but that doesn’t mean you can’t laugh about it. PM Caregiver has a neat collection of humorous bumper stickers about growing old.

A Luxury Teepee

If you are still looking for the perfect outdoors place to vacation this summer while keeping connected with the rest of the world, check out these Solar Powered Teepees. These Teepees in Canada’s Yukon are luxurious, solar powered and eco-friendly. They are perfect for anyone who loves outdoor living without roughing it.
These Teepees [...]

 
A company in Japan called Recruit Co Ltd. is using a unique system to lure people into the restaurants and cafes in the underground mall of the Tokyo Station. Developed by NTT Communications Corp. the system emits appetizing aromas that correspond to a video advertisement being shown on a 42-inch LCD display. The idea is [...]

 
This stained glass representation of the electromagnetic spectrum may be seen at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. The dangly yellow part represents that band of the spectra which makes people think that non-ionizing radiation gives you cancer.

 
Instead of using water alone, the Xeros washing machine uses a new formula: plastic chips, friction and solvent. Confused? Don’t be; the machine is simple to understand and use.

Young men with nuts of steel.

Unicycling – a sport long relegated to clowns and weirdos – have gone hardcore: a small but growing cadre of unicyclists have “ruggidized” (is that a word? It is now!) the whimsical device and created the new sport of Mountain Unicycling or Muni. Video after the jump.

Brilliant idea!
The Waterboard is an interactive installation by Mike Burton giving the user a chance to play with water without getting wet. By drawing lines on the whiteboard, the water will follow a different course. Abstract life forms may appear in basins and where the water is stagnant it will become turbid. Video after [...]

A Delicate Blend of Nature and Consumerism

Krispy Kreme, the glazed doughnut people, have come up with the perfect ideal solution to those “stuck in the office all day” types of situations by having the feeling of fresh grass under your feet.

 
Can you really put a price tag on a good night’s sleep? I simply can’t. Check out the Cosmovoïde Bed, where you can hover on the brink of falling into a deep healing sleep, before awakening relaxed and refreshed, with optimal physical and psychic potential.
 

 
Scientists in Japan have gained a better understanding how influenza viruses replicate, possibly opening the way for the development of drugs to hamper their reproduction.

Parking assist: This prototype of the San Francisco parking network’s Web interface will let drivers find available parking spots. 
This fall, San Francisco will implement the largest mesh network for monitoring parking to date. Around 6,000 wireless sensors from the San Francisco company Streetline will be fixed alongside as many parking spots, monitoring both parking availability [...]

 
 Dinosaur Eel
An extraordinary fish that inhabits muddy pools in West Africa and whose lineage can be traced back 96 million years could be the model for light, bomb-proof body armour for the soldiers of the future.

Four giant panda cubs have been born within just 14 hours in China, giving a rare boost to the population of the endangered species, state media said Sunday. (Pics)

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DelFly Micro demonstration
The smallest flapping wing plane with camera in the world. Developed at the TU Delft in the Netherlands.  Second video after the jump.

 
 Is this a picture of what the future of plug-in vehicle charging might look?
There are 54 million garages for the 247 million registered cars in the US, meaning that the majority of cars are parked overnight in parking structures, parking lots or curbside. As a result, most potential plug-in vehicle consumers do not have an [...]

Using tilt motions, the player moves a character through rooms
LevelHead is a spatial memory game by Julian Oliver that uses a hand-held solid-plastic cube as its only interface. On-screen it appears each face of the cube contains a little room, each of which are logically connected by doors.

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke would prefer to avoid another emergency
Banks struggling to recover from multibillion-dollar losses on real estate are curtailing loans to American businesses, depriving even healthy companies of money for expansion and hiring.
Two vital forms of credit used by companies — commercial and industrial loans from banks, and short-term “commercial paper” not backed [...]

Robotic sea bream from the University of Kitakyushu 
Engineers at the University of Kitakyushu have developed an underwater survey robot that looks good enough to eat. “Tai-robot-kun,” a 7-kilogram (15.4 lb) robotic sea bream (red snapper) with a silicone body covered in realistically hand-painted scales, features a unique propulsion system that allows it to move [...]

 
Nanosatellites, because small is the new big
Earlier this week we heard that “Cambridge University Spaceflight” would be entering the N-Prize competition. The N-Prize (the “N” stands for “Nanosatellite“) is a competition to stimulate innovation directed towards obtaining cheap access to space. The competition was launched in 2008 by Cambridge biologist Paul H. Dear, and is [...]

 
Tata electric cars will have a range of approx 130 miles
Tata Motors, which plans to deliver its first electric car by the end of this fiscal, has turned to its tried and tested Indica platform for the vehicle. According to industry sources, the company is currently working on five prototypes of electric vehicles on the [...]

 
The future of the Internet is now in jeopardy because of these freaks
Internet security researchers on Thursday warned that hackers have caught on to a “critical” flaw that lets them control traffic on the Internet. An elite squad of computer industry engineers that laboured in secret to solve the problem released a software “patch” two [...]

 
News in Science reports:

Scientists have photographed a giant gas bubble emanating from a whale, suggesting that flatulence is just as common for ocean mammals as it is for humans and many other terrestrial animals.