November 2nd, 2009 at 10:19 am
A harmless digestive enzyme can be turned into a toxin in two unrelated species — a shrew (pictured) and a lizard — thereby giving each a venomous bite.
Biologists have shown that independent but similar molecular changes turned a harmless digestive enzyme into a toxin in two unrelated species — a shrew and a lizard — giving each a venomous bite.
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November 2nd, 2009 at 10:15 am
A new generation of microcapsules, shown above, promise to deliver “chemicals on demand” for a wide range of uses, including medicine and personal care.
Scientists in California are reporting development of a new generation of the microcapsules used in carbon-free copy paper, in which capsules burst and release ink with pressure from a pen. The new microcapsules burst when exposed to light, releasing their contents in ways that could have wide-ranging commercial uses from home and personal care to medicine.
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November 2nd, 2009 at 10:15 am
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New research finds that a quick glance at someone’s facial structure may be enough for us to predict their tendency towards aggression.
Angry words and gestures are not the only way to get a sense of how temperamental a person is. According to new findings in Psychological Science, a quick glance at someone’s facial structure may be enough for us to predict their tendency towards aggression.
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November 2nd, 2009 at 10:11 am
Mark Tuszynski, MD, PhD.
Scientists at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine report that regeneration of central nervous system axons can be achieved in rats even when treatment delayed is more than a year after the original spinal cord injury.
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November 2nd, 2009 at 10:08 am
This thin-section transmission electron micrograph (TEM) depicted the ultrastructural details of a number of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) virus particles, or virions.
Researchers have shown how an antiviral protein produced by the immune system, dubbed tetherin, tames HIV and other viruses by literally putting them on a leash, to prevent their escape from infected cells. The insights, reported in the October 30th issue of the journal Cell, a Cell Press publication, allowed the research team to design a completely artificial protein — one that did not resemble native tetherin in its sequence at all — that could nonetheless put a similar stop to the virus.
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November 2nd, 2009 at 8:51 am
Cybraphon is the latest project from Edinburgh-based artist collective FOUND (Ziggy Campbell, Simon Kirby and Tommy Perman).
Inspired by early 19th century mechanical bands such as the nickelodeon, Cybraphon is an interactive version of a mechanical band in a box. Consisting of a series of robotic instruments housed in a large display case, Cybraphon behaves like a real band. Image conscious and emotional, the band’s performance is affected by online community opinion as it searches the web for reviews and comments about itself 24 hours a day.
November 2nd, 2009 at 8:49 am
Featured Invention at the Colorado Inventor Showcase 2009
WOKER™ is Poker using words! It’s a fun, new card game that combines the challenges of word games with the quickness of poker! The goal is to make the highest scoring words with your cards based on the points associated with each letter. It’s like a brainteaser for both sides of your brain.
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November 2nd, 2009 at 8:36 am
Splash your way into the future!
What will bathrooms look like in 10 years time? Will it be the boring old room like the ones we currently use? Well, if the Roca Active & Relax Bathroom is anything to go by, the future is looking pretty clean (pun intended). How would you like a giant display to watch whatever you like, while you laze away in the (literally) sunken bath? The floorboards can close over the sunken bath, and you’ll be able to take a shower right in the middle of the room (pictured above). Not too shabby, eh?
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November 1st, 2009 at 10:17 pm
Aida
As if you don’t have enough distractions while driving, the Personal Robots Group at the MIT Media Lab and MIT’s SENSEable City Lab have teamed up to create AIDA, a robot that lives in your dashboard, is way smarter than you, and has no compunctions about letting you know it: (Video)
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November 1st, 2009 at 10:02 pm
Oasis of the Seas
The world’s largest cruise liner, the Oasis of the Seas, has set sail for Miami from the Finnish shipyard where it was built. (Pics)
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November 1st, 2009 at 7:47 pm
Friends create great motivation for losing weight
To reach the conclusion, Professor Shiriki Kumanyika and colleagues at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, conducted the two-year trial. The study included 344 men and women.
The volunteers’ goal was to achieve and maintain a 5 per cent to 10 per cent weight loss. They were educated on a healthy diet and physical activity, given pedometers and enrolled in exercise sessions, reports The Telegraph .
A total of 63 people enrolled in the programme alone and 281 enrolled with a friend or family member.
The groups were split into three sections, those who trained alone, those who had a partner that received little coaching and those who were with a friend who also had a high level of coaching.
Their progress was then measured at intervals of six, 12, 18 and 24 months, according to the research, published in the latest issue of Archives of Internal Medicine journal.
After analyses, researchers found that the participants with a partner in the high support group lost the most weight at all the measurement periods.Kumanyika said: “We evaluated family and friend social support as a specific cultural adaptation strategy.
“Beneficial effects on weight loss were linked to actual rather than assigned partner participation and to partner success in losing weight.
“Further studies may elucidate ways to facilitate effective family or friend participation and to improve absolute weight losses.”
Heading to the gym? Well, don’t forget to take along your friend, for a new study has claimed that exercising with a partner boosts weight loss. To reach that conclusion, Professor Shiriki Kumanyika and colleagues at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, conducted the two-year trial. The study included 344 men and women.
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November 1st, 2009 at 7:07 pm
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 ‘LOML’ (also known as the Love Of My Life) how much you ‘< 3’ (love) them.
According to Debra Goldstein and Olivia Baniuszewicz, authors of a book on the subject, text messaging or SMSes are the most widely used mobile data service on the planet and while this wireless communication works wonders in bringing people together, there are certain proper ‘textiquettes’ that need to be kept in mind while giving into this messaging madness. The rules to play by…
1.) Timing is Everything
While it can be tempting to respond right away to the tantalising SMSes beeping in your inbox, being overly eager is also a turn-off. This is especially true for those who are just getting to know each other. Rein in your enthusiasm and use time as a tease in responding to certain SMSes. This makes you appear laid back and easy-going and increases the perception that you’re fun to hang out with, with more to follow.
Also, always make sure that you do not message somebody at a time which is too late for them, and hence, inconvenient for the person.
2.) Don’t Beat Around the Bush
Messages can be easily misunderstood. People like them for the fact that they’re succinct and direct. Don’t be cryptic while flirting. Keep it real and witty. These are supposed to be time-saving titillations.
3.) Never Drink and Text
Getting drunk equals getting stupid. Never mix your drinks with your SMSes. While it might turn out to be funny, chances are, it will rarely be sexy. Think flirtexting , think sober.
4.) Avoid breaking Major News Through Text Messages
While the heat and the excitement of the moment might tempt you to message your loved one declaring your love for them or your intention to marry them, these news are best broken in person. Also, do not break up with someone through SMSes. It is rude.
5.) Discresion is the Best Option
For your own good, if you are sexting with more than one person, do not leave your phone out while on a date and don’t check your messages in front of your date. Also, turn off your phone if you find yourself having a ‘sleepover’.
6.) Double-Check Before You Send Out a Flirt Text
Messages involving any sexual encounters, especially those with saucy pictures to go along with them, should always be double checked. Make sure you are sending them to the person you actually meant them for.
Via Times of India
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 ‘LOML’ (also known as the Love Of My Life) how much you ‘< 3’ (love) them.
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November 1st, 2009 at 6:29 pm
The world is indeed changing with the acceptance of married priests
The Vatican said Saturday that married Anglican priests will be admitted to the Catholic priesthood on a case-by-case basis as Rome makes it easier for disillusioned conservative Anglicans to convert.
A surprise Vatican decision, announced 10 days earlier to make it easier for Anglicans to become Roman Catholics while retaining aspects of Anglican liturgy and identity, had left some wondering whether Rome would embrace married Anglican clergy in large numbers.
A Holy See statement Saturday quoted Cardinal William Levada, the Holy See’s guardian of doctrinal correctness, as saying the Vatican would consider accepting married Anglican priests into the Roman Catholic priesthood as it has in the past — evaluating each case on its own merits.
The Roman Catholic church requires its priests to be celibate, except in the case of the Eastern rite Catholics, who are allowed to be ordained if married. But over the last decades, it has also quietly allowed married Anglican clergy to stay priests when converting to Catholicism.
In no case could a married man become a bishop, and the new rules would exclude any married Anglican bishop from retaining that post.
As for possibly admitting married Anglican seminarians to the Catholic priesthood, Levada said “objective criteria about any such possibilities (e.g. married seminarians already in preparation) are to be developed” for approval by the Holy See.
Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi dismissed what he called some media speculation that there was “disagreement about whether celibacy will be the norm for the future clergy” among converting Anglicans.
He quoted Levada as saying “there is no substance to such speculation,” and that the only reason why the rules regarding the converting Anglicans haven’t been published yet was due to “technical” reasons. He predicted work on the new rules would be completed by the end of the first week of November.
Pope Benedict XVI has dedicated a good part of his papacy since 2005 welcoming traditionalists into Rome’s fold.
Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, the spiritual leader of Anglicans worldwide, wasn’t consulted about the changes but will have the opportunity to discuss the state of Catholic-Anglican relations when he meets with Benedict on Nov. 21 during a visit to Rome.
The Vatican’s easing the way for Anglicans to convert might undermine decades of efforts between the Holy See and Anglican leaders over how they might possibly unite.
Anglicans split with Rome in 1534 when the Vatican refused to give English King Henry VIII a marriage annulment. The Anglican communion includes the Episcopalian Church in the United States.
Some Anglican faithful, unhappy over progressive reforms in their church, consider themselves Catholics although they have not yet officially joined the Roman Catholic church.
Anglicans have been divided over such issues as admitting women to the priesthood. The rift was torn wide open in 2003, when the Episcopal Church in the United States consecrated V. Gene Robinson, as the first openly gay bishop.
Also disenchanting Anglican conservatives has been the blessing of same-sex marriages.
The Vatican said Saturday that married Anglican priests will be admitted to the Catholic priesthood on a case-by-case basis as Rome makes it easier for disillusioned conservative Anglicans to convert.
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November 1st, 2009 at 11:48 am
Featured Invention at the Colorado Inventor Showcase
The Easy Dump Trash Can is a trash receptacle with a wide bottom and narrower top that also has a removable bottom. Lo-Lift design reduces workplace exposure to back injuries.
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November 1st, 2009 at 10:27 am
Daylight Saving Time ends in most of the United States a 2AM on Sunday, November 1st (Hawaii and Arizona have been on standard time all summer). We remember which way to set our clocks by thinking “spring forward, fall back.” It makes you wonder how we ever got our clocks coordinated in the first place. Believe it or not, standard time and time zones were the railroad industry’s idea.
“In the early 19th century … localities set their own time,” said Bill Mosley, a public affairs officer at the U.S. Department of Transportation.
“It was kind of a crazy quilt of time, time zones, and time usage. When the railroads came in, that necessitated more standardization of time so that railroad schedules could be published.”
In 1883 the U.S. railroad industry established official time zones with a set standard time within each zone. Congress eventually came on board, signing the railroad time zone system into law in 1918.
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November 1st, 2009 at 10:12 am
Apple’s iPhone has officially gone on sale in China. Despite the country being the world’s largest mobile market, there wasn’t any frenzy like the iPhone launches in other countries. While you might suggest it’s a cultural difference or other reasons, it’s most likely caused by 2 factors. The first being that the iPhone in China doesn’t have Wi-Fi, and the second would be the pricing scheme, as the 8GB iPhone 3G would set you back about $732, and the 32GB 3GS will set you back about $1,025, certainly not lunch money.
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November 1st, 2009 at 10:07 am
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 after Mr Kim reputedly suffered a stroke in August 2008. Mr Kim was variously said to be close to death, about to be toppled by a coup, or desperately fixing the succession for his youngest son. Or was he really someone else?
The mainstay of the Kim-is-fake cottage industry is a Japanese university professor called Toshimitsu Shigemura, who once claimed that the real Mr Kim died in 2003, and that everything since has been make-believe. One Mr Kim, he maintains, even flatly confessed to a Japanese visitor, “I am a double.”
November 1st, 2009 at 9:11 am
Plowing tractor exhaust into the field, eliminating fertilizer costs
A wheat farmer in Australia has eliminated adding fertilizer to his crop by the simple process of injecting the cooled diesel exhaust of his modified tractor into the ground when the wheat is being sown. In doing so he eliminates releasing carbon into the atmosphere and at the same time saves himself up to $500,000 (AUD) that would have been required to fertilize his 3,900 hectares in the traditional way. Yet his crop yields over the last two years have been at least on par with his best yields since 2001. The technique was developed by a Canadian, Gary Lewis of Bio Agtive, and is currently in trial at 100 farms around the world.
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October 31st, 2009 at 7:09 pm
Don’t you think a lot more people need to be aware of this?
Kevin Poulsen at Threat Level has a great item up about the growing menace of “money mules.” The term refers to bank customers who’ve been conned into unwittingly laundering cash that hackers have stolen from business bank accounts. The con and the funny phrase have been around for a while, but the US Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation issued a new warning to American financial institutions about the increasing spread on Thursday. Snip:
Using specialized Trojan horse malware, cybercrooks have been intercepting web-banking credentials from the computers of small and midsize businesses, and then initiating wire transfers to mules around the country. The mules are consumers who’ve been lured into fake work-at-home scams, in which their employment involves receiving money transfers and then forwarding the funds to Eastern Europe, either directly or through other mules.
The scheme has exploded in the last year…
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October 31st, 2009 at 4:30 pm
The ultimate geek toy
Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak shows us that a nixie tube watch is probably a better idea in theory than it is in practice. It’s so bulky. Sure looks like a lot of trouble he has to go through just to change the time zone. Never mind that, if they could just make these things a whole lot smaller, we’d really be lusting after one.
Woz also talks about how his fellow passengers start to get worried when he adjusts his nixie watch, which to the uninitiated might look like a crude bomb triggering device. Also of interest is how he can smuggle a ceramic knife on board an aircraft without being arrested. We weren’t aware he flew commercial.
Via Medgadget
Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak shows us that a nixie tube watch is probably a better idea in theory than it is in practice. It’s so bulky. Sure looks like a lot of trouble he has to go through just to change the time zone. Never mind that, if they could just make these things a whole lot smaller, we’d really be lusting after one.
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October 31st, 2009 at 4:06 pm
Next generation violin
Check out almost any classical violinist, and you might notice that the instruments they use are based on designs first created over 300 years ago. World class players are even willing to pay millions to own an original instrument from the great 17th century Italian masters like Antonio Stradivari.
If you wanted to cross an ocean at great speed you wouldn’t go looking for a 17th century ship, so why do we still use 300 year old violins? Surely by using modern design techniques and 21st century materials, we can create a better sounding instrument than a bunch of Italian guys using old bits of wood and some varnish.
That’s the thinking behind the Gavari Semiacoustic Violin from Austrian designer Gerda Hopfgartner. Working with a Viennese luthier, Hopfgartner took her inspiration from modern yachts, as well as “feminine curves and sundry corset outlines of the Baroque, Rococo, and Biedermeier ages” whatever that means. While the results certainly look cool and modern, I’m still waiting for a verdict on its sonic performance.
The Gavari violin is being shown this weekend at the Tokyo Designers Week exhibition.
Check out almost any classical violinist, and you might notice that the instruments they use are based on designs first created over 300 years ago. World class players are even willing to pay millions to own an original instrument from the great 17th century Italian masters like Antonio Stradivari. (Pics)
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October 31st, 2009 at 4:04 pm
Darth Vader did not approve of how the conductor of the Icelandic Symphony Orchestra was leading a performance of The Imperial March, so he stepped in to do the job himself.
In the links, you’ll find a longer video of this event from CNN.
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October 31st, 2009 at 11:52 am
Leonard DaVinci’s masterpiece Mona Lisa
The secret behind Mona Lisa’s enigmatic smile has been explained by scientists who believe it changes depending on which part of the eye sees it first. One of the charms of the world’s most famous painting is that she appears radiant one moment and then serious and sardonic the next. Now scientists claim to have come up with an answer to her changing moods – our eyes are sending mixed signals to the brain.
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October 31st, 2009 at 11:41 am
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.
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October 31st, 2009 at 10:35 am
Featured Invention at the Colorado Inventor Showcase 2009
The Worlds First “Personal Loyalty Program” designed for the Social Media generation. With a free Loyal2.Me account you have the power to make businesses be Loyal to you instead expecting Loyalty from you. You get VIP deals on your favorite products and services from the Businesses you invite into your program. Since you control who joins your program you only hear about the products and services you want and ONLY when you want them. Loyal2.Me completely disrupts how businesses interact with their best customers.
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