Sharing a small portion of cinema popcorn between two would mean each person consuming a day’s worth of saturated fat
A medium popcorn and soft drink at an American cinema is the caloric equivalent of three McDonald’s quarter pounder hamburgers topped with a dozen scoops of butter, according to a new study.
 

Women and beauty products – it’s a love affair that’s been going on for centuries. And no wonder. There’s nothing like a new lipstick or favourite perfume to make us look and feel good. Or so we thought…
 

Courier Water
Water shortages are a growing problem around the world, especially in developing countries. Desalination, or turning seawater into potable water, is one way of increasing water supplies, but desalination plants require vast amounts of energy and infrastructure. Now a Japanese team has developed Courier Water, a mobile desalination unit that has tremendous potential for [...]

Feeling Sleepy Yet?

Having problems sleeping?  Tried every solution in the book?  Lord knows there’s a good lot of them, from outright superstitious behavior to drowning your room in scents to popping the good ol’ pill.  Here’s another one you can try: sleeping with the light on.  Huh?!?
Well, not the big, bright light in your room.  [...]

A research laboratory at Japan’s Ritsumeikan University has developed a monitoring system for wet diapers that consists of a self-powered sensor/transmitter and a receiver and is supposed to assist staff in hospitals and nursing homes in performing diaper checks with elderly patients. The sensor kit has to be placed inside the diaper and sends signals [...]

The vaccine is injected and works by creating anti-bodies
Smokers could soon have access to an injectable vaccine to help them break the habit following a deal between GlaxoSmithKline and Nabi Pharmaceuticals, the company that developed the drug.  The NicVAX vaccine works by preventing nicotine in tobacco entering the brain, where it creates an addictive sensation [...]

Think prayer is all you can do to keep your home safe in the middle of a warzone?  With the X-Flex bomb-surviving wallpaper, you just might have another line of defense.  It’s not exactly salvation, but it could help keep your fortress intact for just a little while longer.
Invented by Berry Plastics in conjunction with [...]

Behold the helmet of head health

Stressed from all the pretending that you do at the office?   Forget medicating, all you need is some liberating pressure on your skull.  At least, that’s what Kinatech is thinking with the new Headtime Scalp Massager, a huge, head-crowning bowl that looks like it’s raring to fry your brains.
Looking like [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

Many people think that the hearing impaired would have lost a large part of being human, that is, being unable to experience the joy of music. Well, have you ever attended a deaf church’s worship service? Those involve drums that lets the congregation literally feel the beat of the song, and the Sounzzz concept is [...]

Wii boxing
People could expend more energy playing the Wii Sports games or doing aerobics and yoga with the Wii Fit than during a brisk walk, the researchers found.
 

Covcoa BIO in Spain claim that special amino acids contained in the recipe trick your brain into believing you’re not hungry
It’s a sweet idea that sounds too good to be true  -  a chocolate that helps you lose weight.  Yet according to the makers, that’s exactly what a new brand of chocolate will do.
 

The US’s first marijuana cafe opened on Friday, posing an early test of the Obama administration’s move to relax policing of medical use of the drug.
 

Even as drug makers promise to support Washington’s health care overhaul by shaving $8 billion a year off the nation’s drug costs after the legislation takes effect, the industry has been raising its prices at the fastest rate in years.
 

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 [...]

Holding the hand of a loved one during times of distress really can reduce their discomfort, scientists believe.  Researchers revealed that, at least for women, the touch or look of a boyfriend seems to anaesthetise them from pain. Even a photograph of their partner is enough to have an effect.
 

 Today’s 60-year-olds are the first modern generation to be less healthy than their immediate predecessors.  A health timebomb is hitting baby boomers: the over-60 year olds are sufferring more illnesses caused by bad diet and lack of exercise.
 

Go Go Gadget High Voltage Robot!

Fiddling with high-voltage power lines is certainly a dangerous job, especially for humans. With that in mind, a Tokyo-based company, HiBot, is working with western Japan’s Kansai Electric Power Co. to test a new robot next year that can inspect several power cables at once, and we’re fairly sure that [...]

“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 [...]

Take a gander at this crazy home water purification system created by a 68-year-old retired engineer.
Above: “magnetic bottle. Plastic bottle with a magnet (I used magnets for the refrigerator). Here are removed from the water surplus of some metals.”

Make a goat happy. Let ‘em eat your lawn!

Forget gas-guzzlin’, smoke-belchin’ lawnmowers. The eco-friendly way to mow grass and get rid of unwanted vegetation is to … rent some goats!
The city of Andover, Massachusetts has some unwanted guests: invasive species like the European buckthorn tree and the strangling bittersweet vine from Asia are shouldering out [...]

A clear silk film, about one centimeter squared, with six silicon transistors on its
surface about to be implanted into a mouse (Photo: Rogers/Omenetto)

 Tattooing dates back to at least Neolithic times and has experienced a resurgence in popularity in many parts of the world in recent years. Advancements in tattoo pigments and the refinement of [...]

What a nifty idea! Many folks insist that toothbrushes should be sterilized, after all, if you don’t, your toothbrush could become a breeding ground for all sorts of nasty bacteria. This concept toothbrush will harness the kinetic energy that we generate through the activity of us brushing out teeth. If you brush for 3 minutes, [...]

Lingerie makers Triumph have unveiled the ‘Nice Cup in Bra’, which can be removed, rolled out and used as a putting mat for the keen golfing lady.
The green corset-style garment can be removed and unrolled to create a 1.5m-long putting mat.
When the user sinks a putt into one of the cups, a built-in speaker pumps [...]