Using a fried dough and Kit Kat stop-motion animation, the folks over at Elementsexplain how a synchroton particle accelerator—like the Large Hadron Collider—accelerate particles up to the speed of light…
Continue reading… “How a particle accelerator works: Explained with donuts and chocolate bars”
Are genetically engineered mosquitoes the best way to go?
The Florida Keys Mosquito Control District, just held a meeting about potential trials involving the release of genetically modified male mosquitoes into the delicate ecosystem of the Florida Keys. The stated purpose of the trials is to investigate controlling the spread of dengue fever.
The company behind the technology, British firm Oxitec, explains that sterile males would be released to compete with wild males for female insects, which would then have no offspring and reduce the population of the next generation…
Astronomers using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope have found several examples of galaxies containing quasars, which act as gravitational lenses.
Astronomers using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope have found several examples of galaxies containing quasars, which act as gravitational lenses, amplifying and distorting images of galaxies aligned behind them. Quasars are among the brightest objects in the universe, far outshining the total starlight of their host galaxies. Quasars are powered by supermassive black holes…
Continue reading… “Hubble finds Quasars acting as gravitational lenses”
Pharmaceuticals found to be more harmful than beneficial?
There’s always that part at the end of drug commercials that goes something like: if you develop sausage fingers, webbed feet, or a three-week erection, call your doctor! But as exhaustive as those auctioneer-style lists sound, they barely scratch the surface when it comes to the side effects pople are actually experiencing.
Stanford researchers created an algorithm that identified 1,332 drug side effects not currently listed on labels. They estimate that each drug has 329 adverse reactions on average, nearly five times the 69 currently listed…
Continue reading… “Drugs cause about five times more side effects than realized”
Joe Engressia Jr.
Joe Engressia Jr. was the father of phone phreaking. In the 1950s, the blind 7-year-old realized that his high-pitched whistle could control the phone system. Over the years, he learned the electronic language of clicks and tones and tapped into a network of phone freaks around the country, most of whom had previously phreaked in solitude…
Continue reading… “Story of the first phone phreak”
Another new discovery in China.
Your family tree just got wider. Scientists have analyzed fossils found in China, and deemed them to be from a new human species unlike any ever identified before; say hello to your long-lost cousin.
The skull, originally unearthed in 1979 in the Guangxi Province of China, has only now been fully analyzed (talk about procrastination, right?). It turns out that it has thick bones, extremely prominent brow ridges, a very short, flat face, and also lacks our typically human chin. “In short, it is anatomically unique among all members of the human evolutionary tree,” explains researcher Darren Curnoe to New Scientist…
Continue reading… “Scientists have identified a completely new human species from China”
From YouTube user FONentertainment comes a performance of what Alex Santoso calls “…the best piece of music ever written in the history of mankind.”
Continue reading… ““Dueling Banjos” on Tesla Coils”
SXSW 4G Hot Spot-a-go-go Clarence.
Treading a thin line between totally unethical/wrong and gainful temporary employment, companies at SXSW Music Festival are hiring homeless people to act as WiFi hotspots. Here’s how it works:…
Continue reading… “Homeless People Hired To Act As 4G Hotspots”
The demand for computer programmers has never been stronger and DaVinci Institute has decided to do something about it.
Starting in June, DaVinci Institute will be launching DaVinci Coders, an 11-week program designed to take passionate, driven people from zero to programmer in less than 90 days. DaVinci Coders is a new breed of beginner-level skills training center oriented around teaching inspired, passionate people the fine art of programming web applications…
Continue reading… “Lookout world – DaVinci Coders has arrived!”
A British scientist has become the first human to be infected with a computer virus.
Dr Mark Gasson, a cybernetics expert at the University of Reading, has had a computer chip implanted in his hand.
The chip is programmed to open security doors to his lab – and ensure only he is able to switch on and use his mobile phone…
Continue reading… “Scientist implanted with RFID Chip gets computer virus”
Willow and her tenants, in front of the house Willow bought with her mother.
NPR’s Planet Money profiles Willow Tufano, a 14-year-old Florida girl who saved thousands of dollars by harvesting furniture from foreclosed houses and selling it on eBay. She’s just bought half interest in a house that went for $100,000 at the peak of the bubble. Her mom owns the other half, and the house went for $12,000. They rent it out for $700 a month now. Chana Joffe-Walt writes:
An impossible object?
At first glance Igor Lobanov’s Wormhole chair looks like an impossible object that could only exist as a computer physics simulation. But once you wrap your head around its zip-together design, it not only seems plausible, but also pretty genius.
Each chair is composed of two flat, but rounded, frame pieces that each fold into a C-shape and completely zip together…
Continue reading… “Does this zip-together chair bend the Laws Of Physics?”
By delving into the futuring techniques of Futurist Thomas Frey, you’ll embark on an enlightening journey.
Learn More about this exciting program.