Titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles, found in everything from cosmetics to sunscreen to paint to vitamins, caused systemic genetic damage in mice.
Titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles, found in everything from cosmetics to sunscreen to paint to vitamins, caused systemic genetic damage in mice, according to a comprehensive study conducted by researchers at UCLA’s Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Blast Your Ashes Into Space…

As cremations have become more and more popular in recent years, people have devised a number of unusual ways to commemorate the dearly departed. If you’re looking for a unique way to be remembered, here are 12 strange things you can do with your cremated remains.

A drug that failed tests as an antidepressant is being hailed as “Viagra for women” after surprising but not unpleasant side effects.
In three separate trials, the drug flibanserin did wonders for women’s flagging sex drive despite doing nothing to lift mood.
The accidental discovery is akin to Viagra’s – it was originally designed as a heart [...]

Artist’s conception of the “boiling disk” surrounding the massive young stellar object known as Orion Source I. A disk of hot, ionized gas surrounds the central star, blocking our view
The constellation of Orion is a hotbed of massive star formation, most prominently in the Great Nebula that sits in Orion’s sword. The glowing gas of [...]

An adult male extends his right arm toward an adult female in order to greet her.
Most of the linguistic functions in humans are controlled by the left cerebral hemisphere. A study of captive chimpanzees at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center (Atlanta, Georgia), reported in the January 2010 issue of Elsevier’s Cortex, suggests that this [...]

Over 5000 worked flints came from one small area, including flint cores used for tool creation, blades, flakes and ‘debitage’

Staff at the University of Leicester Archaeological Services (ULAS) have been excited by the results from a recently excavated major Prehistoric site at Asfordby, near Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire. The Mesolithic site may date from as early [...]

A genetic variation may contribute to how empathetic a human is, and how that person reacts to stress.
Researchers have discovered a genetic variation that may contribute to how empathetic a human is, and how that person reacts to stress. In the first study of its kind, a variation in the hormone/neurotransmitter oxytocin’s receptor was linked [...]

Theme rooms for the furry friendly

French workers tired of the rat race have been offered the chance to live like a hamster for the night instead. For only 99 euros a night (£88), people in Nantes can cage themselves in the specially-designed hotel.  (video after jump…)

Normal synaptic activity in nerve cells protects the brain from the misfolded proteins associated with Huntington’s disease, researchers have discovered.
Investigators at Burnham Institute for Medical Research (Burnham), the University of British Columbia’s Centre for Molecular Medicine and Therapeutics and the University of California, San Diego have found that normal synaptic activity in nerve cells (the [...]

Adelie penguins have survived in Antarctica for thousands of years and are invaluable for genetic research.
Penguins that died 44,000 years ago in Antarctica have provided extraordinary frozen DNA samples that challenge the accuracy of traditional genetic aging measurements, and suggest those approaches have been routinely underestimating the age of many specimens by 200 to 600 [...]

NIST postdoctoral researcher David Hanneke at the laser table used to demonstrate the first universal programmable processor for a potential quantum computer.
Physicists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have demonstrated the first “universal” programmable quantum information processor able to run any program allowed by quantum mechanics — the rules governing the submicroscopic [...]

Cynomolgus macaque. New research in these primates suggests that a gene delivery strategy that produces follistatin can improve muscle mass and function.
A study appearing in Science Translational Medicine puts scientists one step closer to clinical trials to test a gene delivery strategy to improve muscle mass and function in patients with certain degenerative muscle disorders.

The IMaX instrument not only depicts the solar surface, it also makes magnetic fields visible; these appear as black or white structures in the polarised light.
The Sun is a bubbling mass. Packages of gas rise and sink, lending the sun its grainy surface structure, its granulation. Dark spots appear and disappear, clouds of matter dart [...]

Captured on film

Obsessed with cameras much?  While you can probably deny it, the owner of this vehicle – the Camera Van – can’t.  Literally decked in thousands of cameras, it’s what the Google Street View cars would have looked like if their designers had some panache.  Or were clinically insane.  Either will do.
First created by [...]

That’s one pissed fish!

The damaging impacts of corporate lobbying on international efforts to fight climate change are exposed today with the announcement of the eight candidates for the Angry Mermaid Award 2009.
The Angry Mermaid Award is named after the iconic Copenhagen mermaid who is angry about the destruction being caused by climate change
Thousands of members [...]

“Whoa dude! Clean your lens or something”
The photos we have this week are guaranteed to hit you from left field. In fact, that’s where we keep all the things we want to hit you with – left field. If you are ever interested in going to left field, just turn around, you’ll find it on your blind [...]

Don’t go bumping these cars!

Here’s an interesting up-cycling story about some boy toys that have found legal ground and even more fun from a bumped up perspective.
“Bumper cars were crazy fun when I was a kid. Even as an adult today, they still look immensely entertaining and I’d probably be on one every weekend if only [...]

“One of the reasons I have long supported the U.S. biotechnology industry is that it is a homegrown success story that has been an engine of job creation in this country.” This written statement by Rep. Joe Wilson of South Carolina on the health care bill was identical to one by Representative Blaine Luetkemeyer and [...]

Am I gonna be able to see my sexts on there?

You may really love your Marlboro lights, but we seriously doubt that you love them enough to be willing to purchase a cigarette-box-phone (if that’s what you call it). This phone is a dual-band GSM device, has a 1.6-inch display, MP3/MP4 player, Bluetooth, FM radio, and [...]

Only available to the US Military (and Blackwater employees?), this new shotgun is fully automatic and can shoot a mini-missle.

Get ready for a strange story of a lost Beatles album found on cassette on the other side of a portal to a parallel universe. James Richards brought the cassette back and is making all the songs available. Here’s the skinny…

“On Sept. 9, 2009 I experienced something that I still am having trouble believing happened [...]

It took over 11 hours to create these two “Where the Wild Things Are” chalk murals at Arnold DC, a Washington ad agency. Watch the timelapse video of their creation, using over 1,500 stills. Really cool.

Cassini-Huygens swings by Earth and accelerates towards Saturn.

When Europe’s comet chaser Rosetta swings by Earth on Nov. 13 for a critical gravity assist, tracking data will be collected to precisely measure the satellite’s change in orbital energy. The results could help unravel a cosmic mystery that has stumped scientists for two decades.

Yellow jewelweed (impatiens pallida) appears to have the ability to recognize ‘relatives’ from ’strangers’ and then shift resources for growth to benefit relatives.
Although plants have the ability to sense and respond to other plants, their ability to recognize kin and act altruistically has been the subject of few studies. The authors explored kin recognition in [...]

Sloan Digital Sky Survey spectroscopy of this inconspicuous blue object.
Astrophysicists at the University of Warwick and Kiel University have discovered two earth sized bodies with oxygen rich atmospheres — however there is a bit of a disappointing snag for anyone looking for a potential home for alien life, or even a future home for ourselves, [...]