Since its launch in 1990, Ulysses has constantly monitored how much stardust enters the Solar System from the interstellar space around it.
After 18.6 years in space and defying several earlier expectations of its demise, the joint ESA/NASA solar orbiter Ulysses will achieve ‘end of mission’ on 30 June 2009. The final communication pass with [...]

From Diesel’s “Liquid Space” fashion show
Augmented reality is a technology futurists and scifi authors like Vernor Vinge have been talking about for decades. Now the tech has matured and is entering the market. Two videos of new products show you the near future. (Videos after the jump)

Electronic nose can pinpoint where wine was made
Scientists have developed a way of identifying wine so accurately they can even say which barrel it was produced in.
It uses an electronic nose to make even the most confident sommelier a little nervous.

The solar plane has the wingspan of a Boeing 747 
It has the wingspan of a Boeing 747 but weighs less than a small car – and could be the first plane to fly around the world powered entirely by the sun.

“No symphony orchestra ever played music like a two-year-old girl laughing with a puppy.” Bern Williams
A child’s first pet has become accepted knowledge in recent years that children with pets receive numerous benefits including increased kindness toward other children, increased self-esteem, even stronger physical and emotional development.  (Pics)

 
This image shows that after 36 hours nearly every target cell (round gray spheres) has ingested a nanocapsule containing a small-interfering RNA (in red).
It is now possible to engineer tiny containers the size of a virus to deliver drugs and other materials with almost 100 percent efficiency to targeted cells in the bloodstream.

The platypus is helping Australian researchers to better understand ovarian cancer.
Researchers from the Royal Adelaide Hospital and University of Adelaide believe our oldest mammalian relative may help us to better understand ovarian cancer.

 Sometimes help comes from those who can least afford to give it
The thing we like about summer is that a whole new season of two-bubbles-off-plumb photos begin to make their appearance. The photos come from nowhere and from everywhere. Here are a few that are sure to loosen your elastic and tickle your cosmic funny [...]

 
University of Illinois cell and developmental biology professor David Clayton
When a zebra finch hears a new song from a member of its own species, the experience changes gene expression in its brain in unexpected ways, researchers report. The sequential switching on and off of thousands of genes after a bird hears a new tune offers [...]

 
Doctors have known for decades that foods like white bread and corn flakes aren’t good for cardiac health.
Doctors have known for decades that too much carbohydrate-laden foods like white bread and corn flakes can be detrimental to cardiac health. In a landmark study, new research from Tel Aviv University now shows exactly how these high [...]

 
A flock of homing pigeon flying
Using a “neurologger” specially designed to record the brain activity of pigeons in flight, researchers reporting online on June 25th in Current Biology, a Cell Press publication, have gained new insight into what goes through the birds’ minds as they fly over familiar terrain.

 The Weirdest Things Done To The Mario Brothers
A refreshingly skewed look a the world. Two more videos after the jump. (Videos)

A new viewpoint for research.

How do researchers study the tops of rain forests? One way is to use a canopy raft, which is flown up and settled on the very tops of trees.
Canopy rafts are extraordinary things. they’re basically enormous nets attached to an inflatable frame and are dropped onto trees from airships, resulting in [...]

The Snaefell 
Motorcycle sidecars have been given an entirely new definition by Francois Knorreck, and one that is quite literal. While most of the world thinks of sidecars as the retro attachments to bikes, Francois created a sidecar that is actually a car, on the side. But it’s easier said than done, it took the man [...]

Mourning Objects
Design student Anna Schwamborn has created a range of jewelry made with the hair and cremated ashes of a dead loved ones. (Pics)

Saints sin and sinners become saintly 
To many, New York Gov. Eliott Spitzer’s fall from grace seemed to make no sense at all. But a new Northwestern University study offers provocative insights that possibly could relate to why the storm trooper of reform — formerly known as the Sheriff of Wall Street — seemingly went from [...]

 
Coffee beans contain a compound that prevents bacteria
Coffee could hold the secret to keeping bad breath at bay. The beans contain compounds that prevent bacteria releasing the gases behind halitosis, research shows.

Seed beetles are polyandrous
Seed beetles are polyandrous – females mate with multiple males, and choose which sperm will fertilize their eggs afterward. Scientists long believed they did this to get the best sperm. But a new study shows the fittest males always lose.

 
 piranhas teeth
How did piranhas — the legendary freshwater fish with the razor bite — get their telltale teeth? Researchers from Argentina, the United States and Venezuela have uncovered the jawbone of a striking transitional fossil that sheds light on this question. Named Megapiranha paranensis, this previously unknown fossil fish bridges the evolutionary gap between flesh-eating [...]

 
Scientists have developed the ability to take regular cells from a pig’s connective tissues, known as fibroblasts, and transform them into stem cells.
For years, proponents have touted the benefits of embryonic stem cell research, but the potential therapies still face hurdles. Side effects such as tumor development, a lack of an effective and long-term animal [...]

 
Lamprey mouth
In addition to providing fundamental insights into the early evolution of the estrogen receptor, research by a team at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine may lead to a contraceptive for female lampreys – a jawless fish considered an invasive pest species in the Great Lakes region of the United States. [...]

 
Artificial liver for drug tests.
If you have hay fever, headaches or a cold, it’s only a short way to the nearest chemist. The drugs, on the other hand, can take eight to ten years to develop. Until now animal experiments have been an essential step, yet they continue to raise ethical issues. “Our artificial organ [...]

Businesses will be launched by former auto workers, mortgage processors and others 
Traditionally it could be predicted that for every 100 people who join the ranks of the jobless, seven will attempt to start a business. Some find business niches, others invent and still others find a better way to do something markets are craving. Ingenuity [...]

MMR25 by Mitsubishi Motors
Today’s list is the future. From wild wheels to perfect seats to flying cars, this is the way we’ll be crashing into each other when tomorrow rolls around. Are you ready for that?! Are you ready to do some amazing flips, twists, and the all important barrel roll? Drop the back on [...]