Gifted is a project by Will Carey which seeks ways of shaping the future by engaging with the generation who will be faced with such scenarios and decisions, seeking the reactions and opinions of children themselves.  It raises questions about how children could use their fantasies and dreams to imagine an alternative genetic future. 
 

Body maps in our brain may influence how we perceive our physical bodies — for example, if there is a lot of brain area associated with our right arm, we will view it being as longer compared to our left arm.
There are areas in the brain devoted to our arms, legs, and various parts of [...]

The Irish accent has beaten its French counterpart as the world’s sexiest.
Men with an Emerald Isle brogue came top in a poll of 5,000 women worldwide, while the French accent only came fourth, just ahead of Australian.
Italian was second. In third place was the Scottish burr. English was sixth and Swedish was seventh, with Spanish, [...]

Message-sent is often different than message-received
Professing your love (or lust) takes just a few seconds of typing in the age of flirtexting, also famously known as sexting. While ‘XOXO’ stands for hugs and kisses, ‘French’ is the new tongue-incheek for French Kiss and ‘IWSN’ (I want sex now) is the best way to tell your [...]

Will the real Kim Jong -il please stand up?

 
Jong-il? Or was it a fake North Korean leader that entertained Bill Clinton on that mission to Pyongyang to retrieve the two imprisoned American journalists?
In the absence of fact, the Hermit Kingdom has long been a free-fire zone for outlandish rumour. And they got more outlandish than ever [...]

It is an international symbol of love and romance. But the kiss may have evolved for reasons that are far more practical – and less alluring.
 

Beer, beer, beer, beer, beer, beer, beer, beer. I love beer!

Beer lovers are being given the chance to take the plunge in a health spa pool – filled with 42,000 pints of lager.
Spa bosses in Starkenberg, Austria, claim that beer can treat skin conditions, blood circulation and can even help cure wounds. The spa – [...]

Researchers have identified a cellular pathway that may explain the link between alcohol consumption and cancer.

Alcohol consumption has long been linked to cancer and its spread, but the underlying mechanism has never been clear. Now, researchers at Rush University Medical Center have identified a cellular pathway that may explain the link.

A pet shop worker has set a new world record after stuffing 16 Madagascar hissing cockroaches – each more than 6cm long – into his mouth.
Sean Murphy, of Lansing, Michigan, US, shattered the old Guinness World Records score of 11 to secure the new mark.

(YouTube Link)
 Five artists from the art collective Cube Works in Toronto recreated Leonardo Da Vinci’s The Last Supper out of 4,050 cubes, in all measuring 8.5 by 17 feet. The work was entered into the Guinness Book of World Records and sold to a collector in Florida.

A group of rich Germans has launched a petition calling for the government to make wealthy people pay higher taxes. The group say they have more money than they need, and the extra revenue could fund economic and social programmes to aid Germany’s economic recovery.
Germany could raise 100bn euros (£91bn) if the richest people paid [...]

For many, the harsh, bright glare of fluorescent street lights or office blocks which remain lit overnight has led to sleepless nights and subsequent bad moods.  But now psychologists from Ohio State University in the US, say that being unable to escape to the dark can affect personality, a person’s health and could lead to [...]

A Deliciously Creepy Chocolate Confection

To the cultured folks in the crowd these solid chocolate skulls are an example of both confectionary making and art. They are cast from REAL human skulls and come in a choice of chocolate including Fair Trade 80 per cent cocoa. There is also their bone chocolate – blended Belgian milk [...]

“Daddy, look at all the FILM (Females I’d Like to Milk)!”  thinks baby Gordon.

As a perspective parent I have been bumping into a lot of new parent web sites. Many of them have some great do’s and don’ts that they recommend or condemn. The fine folks over at Parent Fail spotlight the don’t side of [...]

Man juggling several small balls.
Learning to juggle leads to changes in the white matter of the brain, an Oxford University study has shown.

Humans have long and hard strived to be run faster and jump higher. Now that can be achieved for a little over $300! Welcome the Powerizers:

Strap Powerizers on and you will be able to jump 2m (7ft) in the air, leap 3m (10ft) for every stride and run at speeds of 20mph. Powerizers work like [...]

Brandon Hardesty is filled with wide-eyed comical amazement at the killer soap bubbles he’s able to blow after filling his mouth with — yeccch — baby shampoo. He does it so we don’t have to.

Couple relationships are both more complex and vital than ever
In Today’s Economy More People are Traveling via the Internet than by Cars and Planes. Fortunately the Internet is Opening New Opportunities for Couples to Get a Picture of Their Relationship on the Web that Cuts Through Historic Therapy Approaches. ThriveSphere is the First in a [...]

Tool transfer upon recipient’s request.
The evolution of altruism has long puzzled researchers and has mainly been explained previously from ultimate perspectives—”I will help you now because I expect there to be some long-term benefit to me”. However, a new study by researchers at the Primate Research Institute (PRI) and the Wildlife Research Center (WRC) of [...]

On any given day, nearly 23 percent of all young Black men ages 16 to 24 who have dropped out of high school are in jail, prison, or a juvenile justice institution in America, according to a disturbing new national report released today on the dire economic and social consequences of not graduating from high [...]

NASA is planning to drop a spent rocket motor into the Cabeus crater on the moon Friday morning as part of the search to find lunar water. The motor is a leftover piece of the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite that includes a “shepherding spacecraft” that will follow behind the rocket motor before it [...]

Engineeer and cartoonist Tim Hunkin created an arcade game that at first appears to be an ATM or banking kiosk. When coins are inserted, the banking poster drops and reveals Wack-A-Banker, giving you an opportunity to take your aggressions out on a group of financially oppressive stereotypes.

A look at the happiness of Facebook’s members
Facebook is even more omniscient than you thought: it can now chart the world’s collective hopes and dreams and highs and lows–sort of, at least.   
 

Windmills have opened many doors for William!

William Kamkwamba, a teenage boy in Malawi, saw a photo of a windmill in a textbook at the library and decided that if he could build one it would be useful to his village.

Mr Kamkwamba, who is now 22 years old, knocked together a turbine from spare bicycle parts, [...]