My entire life, the ketchup packet has remained a constant. Its saw-tooth edge and slightly bulbous form, enclosing not nearly enough ketchup, is something that, like a grand oak of food package design, you expected never to change. Well, my friends, Heinz has taken the extraordinary step of replacing a product everyone has been satisfied [...]

The 2009 Ricky Gervais movie The Invention of Lying imagined a world in which everyone always told the truth and lying (for good or ill) had never existed. Jon Wolf of College Humor has created a series of graphics illustrating an Internet in which everyone always told the truth, including the hot girl on Facebook [...]

 In PART 1 of this series, we saw the first round of what seems to be turning into a dastardly trend. Now, Brian Krebs continues to scare the pants off of us with his ongoing series on sophisticated ATM skimmers (devices that capture your card number, working with a hidden camera to catch your PIN). [...]

Ten Word Wiki describes itself as “an encyclopedia for the ADD generation.” The site is like Wikipedia, but all entries are limited to ten words. Since there aren’t that many entries yet, you may want to browse the “recent changes” tab and then take a stab at some entries of your own!
Here is the entry [...]

Scientists keep discovering extinct species that hardly seem possible outside of cartoons. If they were still around, we might not be! Web Urbanist shows us some of the biggest, fiercest, and weirdest of animals that are no more. For instance, the whorl shark had its own “jaw saw”!
Whorl Sharkswere similar to their modern cousins despite [...]

Did HAARP cause the damage? Hugo says so.

Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez Wednesday accused the United States of causing the destruction in Haiti by testing a ‘tectonic weapon’ to induce the catastrophic earthquake that hit the country last week.
President Chavez said the US was “playing God” by testing devices capable of creating eco-type catastrophes, the Spanish [...]

Here’s how it works. Air is pumped into the columns and beams that support the structure, which are made of heavy material like that found in inflatable lifeboats. Air is also pumped into walls and roofs made of two layers of nylon about 18 inches apart when inflated. The air gives them stiffness and insulating [...]

An environmental campaigner protesting against the grim outcome of GM crops.

Fresh fears were raised over GM crops yesterday after a study showed they can cause liver and kidney damage.
According to the research, animals fed on three strains of genetically modified maize created by the U.S. biotech firm Monsanto suffered signs of organ damage after just [...]

Scott Allen over at Mental Floss posted a very timely piece about the warm climate countries that participate in Winter Olypics.

The Winter Olympics are traditionally dominated by athletes from countries where winter brings freezing temperatures and snow, but that hasn’t stopped a number of athletes from more tropical climates from infiltrating the ranks of the [...]

A mushroom is the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground on soil or on its food source. The word “mushroom” can also be used for a wide variety of gilled fungi, with or without stems, and the term is used even more generally, to describe both the fleshy fruiting bodies [...]

Yoga Heals The Mind and Frees The Body

Prisoners in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh are being freed early if they complete yoga courses.
For every three months spent practising posture, balance and breathing the inmates can cut their jail time by 15 days.
The authorities say the lessons help to improve the prisoners’ self-control and reduce [...]

Charting The Beatles is a project by graphic designer Michael Deal to express the history of that band through quantitative infographics. Pictured above is one describing their working activities, divided into touring, filming, and recording. Deal invites anyone to participate by contributing their own infographics to a flickr set.

A fresh ferry concept.

A Japanese shipbuilding company named IHI Marine United is developing a ship that can be powered entirely by rechargeable lithium batteries. It will be able to travel 80 km while carrying 800 passengers:
Its Zero Emission Electric Propulsion Ship will use batteries that can be recharged at charging stations in ports it visits. [...]

Wild Geometry Dropping Into The 3Rd Dimension

Bathsheba Grossman is a sculptor who uses cutting-edge technology to render math- and science-inspired shapes in three dimensions. You can buy 3D-printed laser-cut metal ones, or order them in plastic at lower costs from ShapeWays. That sound you hear is my jaw scraping my keyboard… (Pics)

Oh so Tiny!

A Taiwanese artist has created what he claims is the smallest sculpture of a tiger ever made – so small it could fit through the eye of a needle, and can only be seen properly with a magnifying glass.
Chen Forng-shean, who has been sculpting as a hobby for around 30 years, carved the [...]

Beethoven’s Skull

In reference to the book Cranioklepty by Colin Dickey, Keith Thomson writes at The Huffington Post about the hobby of skull collecting. Among the most famous skulls held in collections might be that of the composer Ludwig Von Beethoven:
The seller is California businessman Paul Kaufmann, who first became aware that his family possessed the [...]

I want a secret fort too!

The “Daily Shelter” by artist Ingrid Brandth is a dining-room table that converts to a secret fort: “At first glance it looks like an ordinary table. But for the one who knows its secret, it can be transformed into a shelter where one can hide from scary sounds, ghosts or [...]

We love Wii!

Another day, another story about some cheap, plastic Wii motion control accessory finding an application outside of gaming. In this case, it’s the balance board, and not only is this device helping stroke victims recover, it’s saving them money, too.In fact, doctors at the University of Melbourne found that the balance board, normally [...]

Frooting amazing!

With the environment and sustainability firmly in mind the Dell Froot concept saves the planet courtesy two projectors: One for the virtual keyboard, and another for the monitor.Designed by Pauline Carlos as part of a sustainability contest sponsored by Dell, the Froot also uses a colorful case that’s constructed out of a biodegradable starch-based [...]

Another of the many ways Queen’s classic Bohemian Rhapsody is performed, this time by Hayseed Dixie, from their new album Killer Grass.
 

8000 years of history.
 
Israeli archaeologists have found remains of an 8,000-year-old building as well as hippopotamus bones and pottery shards in the Tel Aviv area, the Israel Antiquities Authority said on Monday.
 
 
“For the first time we have encountered evidence of a permanent habitation that existed in the Tel Aviv region about 8,000 years ago.”

That places [...]

Tiny art from a left over part.

Anastassia Elias is an artist who uses the rolls leftover from toilet paper as a showcase for miniature tableaus.   Above you can see children building a snowman, complete with wintry tree limbs hanging as a frame to Elias’ crafted scene.By making the inserted figures out of the same color paper as [...]

Beer VS Blood. The battle rages on!

A Tacoma-based blood center offers donors a deal: Give a pint of blood, get a pint of beer.
Cascade Regional Blood Services says the promotion has worked so well at six Tacoma pubs and breweries, it’s expanding its “Give blood, get beer” offer to its bloodmobile for pubs in Federal [...]

The Vatican Secret Archives rate high on the list.

The world is full of secret and exclusive places that we either don’t know about, or simply couldn’t visit if we wanted to. This list takes a look at ten of the most significant places around the world that are closed to the general public or are [...]

Yummy?

Years ago, chef Dave Arnold expressed a desire for a substance that had the consistency, texture, and applicability of chocolate, but wasn’t chocolate. He wanted to be able to coat food in ketchup as one coats, for example, cherries in chocolate. After some experimentation, he was successful. Here’s his recipe… (Pics)