Scientists have developed an image scanning program that can distinguish between individual zebras by their stripes:
When a zebra has been entered into the database and given a StripeCode, the researchers match another picture of the same animal by comparing the StripeStrings of the new and original images. Each image will generate a different set of StripeStrings, but the underlying ratios of black and white should remain similar…
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSVQsyZLtKg&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]
Actually, the Segway would be a fairly sound vehicle for modern jousting, as this commercial for the State of Washington’s lottery illustrates. But buying lottery tickets is probably not a likely route to this most excellent goal…
Continue reading… “Jousting on Segways”
Emanuele Lopopolo of Italy has invented a portable backrest that allows its wearer to take a break from standing by leaning back onto a telescopic pole…
Continue reading… “Italian Man Invents ‘Kangaroo Tail for Humans’”
Lionfish are pretty, but they belong in the Pacific and Indian Oceans. They lack natural predators in the Caribbean, so lionfish have become quite the invasive species since they escaped from aquariums ten years ago to breed in the waters off the US and Central America. In Honduras, divers are not only hunting them, they are also training sharks to eat the lionfish!
Continue reading… “Training Sharks to Eat Lionfish”
Ignoring countless science-fiction movies warning them of the perils of tampering with nature, scientists are forging ahead with research to build a better brain.
Need a smarter noggin? Perhaps neurogenesis is for you…
Continue reading… “Better Thinking Through Neurogenesis”
Imagine the possibilites a translucent phone would bring. The wiping of endless fingerprints would be a nightmare but the concept is too cool and too futuristic to ignore.
Freelance designer, Mac Funamizu is at it again, mocking up translucent devices that let the imagination run wild with the clean simplicity. He’s designing the future we’ve always read about and seen in science fiction. Hopefully these designs will someday soon be a reality…
Continue reading… “Thru: The Lucent Mobile Phone Concept”
Our ocean, particularly deep ocean, is one of the least explored places on earth. We know just a fraction of what plants and animals live under the waves, and barely understand the complexity of ocean ecosystems. One part of this is because we haven’t spent as much time designing and building the sophisticated tools required for diving into the deepest parts of the sea as we have building space ships. That needs to change, and Sir Richard Branson wants to be a leading figure in that change. He has unveiled the Virgin Oceanic submarine, capable of diving into even the Mariana Trench. But this will be just one of five incredible trenches the submarine is set to explore…
Continue reading… “Sir Richard Branson’s Deep-Sea Submarine to Explore Ocean’s Unknown Depths”
Shark Tag, You’re It is an online platform designed to bring in the best, most creative ways to help drive ocean conservation. Drawing from a roster of top business talent, the platform has encouraged submissions from the likes of Google and the Boston Consulting Group. All of this was made possible thanks to the Summit at Sea, to which Shark Tag, You’re It is attached. Its genesis, however, is a twisted path…
Continue reading… “Top Tech & Business Minds Try To Save the Oceans”
And by “extremely”, I mean points about 2-7 feet long extending beyond the toes.
This video, which is voiced in Spanish but subtitled in English, is from the web series Behind the Seams. It describes the emerging Mexican fashion trend of wearing boots with very long points, which is closely affiliated with the Tribal music and dance scene.
Continue reading… “Fashion Trend: Extremely Pointy Boots”
The chemical which summons stem cells from bone marrow to the site of a wound has been discovered by scientists in the UK and Japan.
The study, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, identified the distress signal – HMGB1.
The authors believe it can be used to put “a megaphone in the system” to improve the treatment of injuries such as burns and leg ulcers…
Continue reading… “Chemical Discovered Which ‘Makes Bone Marrow Repair Skin’”
Piezoelectric nanowires are the stuff that make power-generating pants a possibility, and that prodigious potential has drawn the attention of NASA. You see, self-powered spacesuits are awfully attractive to our nation’s space agency, and a few of its finest student researchers have discovered that the current-creating strands of zinc oxide can be made longer and straighter — and therefore more powerful — when freed from gravity’s unrelenting pull. That means nanowires grown in microgravity could lead to higher capacity batteries and the aforementioned juice-generating interstellar garb…
Continue reading… “NASA Makes Longer, Straighter Piezoelectric Nanowires in Microgravity”
How many of your Facebook friends work for companies that are hiring? Chances are you don’t know, but new job search startup In The Door launches Tuesday and plugs into Facebook to surface that information.
In The Door’s premise is simple: Let job seekers use their social graph to find open positions where they might have an inside edge…
Continue reading… “Facebook-Infused Job Search Site Finds Listings From Your Social Graph”
By delving into the futuring techniques of Futurist Thomas Frey, you’ll embark on an enlightening journey.
Learn More about this exciting program.