Thomas Edison on his 77th birthday in his laboratory.
When Thomas Edison hired new employees, he presented them with a 150-question quiz, containing different questions depending on the position. But often, the questions had nothing to do with the job; Edison just wanted to know how educated the applicant was. And sometimes there were other reasons behind the interrogation…
Continue reading… “Thomas Edison’s job interview questions”
Student loans are very risky and can be contagious.
Before you engage in risky grad school enrollment, remember that you run a high risk of contracting a student loan. And once you’ve come down with one of those, it’s almost impossible to clean up.
If this applies to you, your partner, or you just like laughing about horrible indebtedness, full video after jump…
Continue reading… “Student Loan STDs”
Plants simply do some things better.
We need more trees in our cities. But our cities also need to become more like trees.
The other day I posted on why environmentalists must think like pro-athletes, inspired in part by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s work on optimal experience. As I finish up his book, I was struck by another observation—namely that the task of finding meaning in an individual’s life can be directly compared to the role of plants as “dissipative structures—organisms that collect diffuse energy from the sun and transform it into highly complex, dynamic structures.
It seems to me that the challenge of building community is very similar. We could, as a culture, do a lot worse than to learn from plants…
Continue reading… “5 things plants do better than us”
Did you know that Thomas Edison got his first job as a telegraph operator after saving the daughter of a station agent from an oncoming train? Or that he didn’t invent the lightbulb, but instead created the first commercially viable version?
Continue reading… “Celebrate Thomas Edison’s 165th birthday with a crash course on his life”
Otavia antiqua
It looks like an insignificant spec of dust, but if scientists are right, it could be the ancestor of us all.
Meet Otavia antiqua, a microscopic, sponge-like African fossil that could be the earliest known animal…
Continue reading… “Meet Otavia antiqua, possibly the ancestor of all animals”
22.6-foot reticulated python, shot by Kekek Aduanan (in hat) on June 9, 1970. Photo by Thomas N. Headland
Earlier this week a team of scientists from several universities and the US Geological Survey released a study documenting the dramatically declining numbers of small and medium-size mammals in Florida – including raccoons, opossums, white-tailed deer, bobcats, rabbits and foxes. These population drops all occur in the same areas where pythons and other large, non-native snakes have taken up residence after escaping from one stop or another in the wildlife trade supply chain.
Anyone who’s even heard only the most basic facts about constrictor snakes knows that they’re formidable predators and take down prey by grasping it in their powerful jaws, coiling their bodies around it, and squeezing until it suffocates. Devouring bunnies and possums isn’t even the half of it, though. These big snakes aren’t shy about going after much larger, more dangerous game, too. Like men. And bears…
Continue reading… “Scientist Catches Bear-Eating Snake in the Act”
Another step ahead.
After what seemed like an eternity of mostly stagnation, average fuel economy for new vehicles has been going up in the United States. Researchers at the University of Michigan have conducted a study showing that for current model year vehicles, fuel economy is 14% higher than just four years ago, which might not sound like much, but it’s much better than what we’ve got in the recent past.
The study concludes that average fuel economy…
Continue reading… “Over past four years, new vehicles became 14% more fuel-efficient in U.S.A.”
The United States lags well behind other advanced democracies, ranking just behind Turkey and Spain, when it comes to churning out young workers with college degrees in math and science, according to a new analysis.
Continue reading… “U.S. lags way behind in young workers with college degrees in science and math”
UCLA neuroscientists have demonstrated that they can strengthen memory in
human patients by stimulating a critical junction in the brain.
Ever gone to the movies and forgotten where you parked the car? New UCLA research may one day help you improve your memory.
UCLA neuroscientists have demonstrated that they can strengthen memory in human patients by stimulating a critical junction in the brain. Published in the Feb. 9 edition of the New England Journal of Medicine, the finding could lead to a new method for boosting memory in patients with early Alzheimer’s disease…
Continue reading… “Memory strengthened by stimulating key site in brain”
A meadow of the seagrass plant Posidonia oceanica, which spreads by creating clones of itself.
It’s big, it’s old and it lives under the sea — and now an international research collaboration with The University of Western Australia’s Ocean’s Institute has confirmed that an ancient seagrass holds the secrets of the oldest living organism on Earth…
Ancient giant Posidonia oceanica reproduces asexually, generating clones of itself. A single organism — which has been found to span up to 15 kilometres in width and reach more than 6,000 metric tonnes in mass — may well be more than 100,000 years old.
Continue reading… “Ancient seagrass holds secrets of the oldest living organism on earth”
Boost your brain power with some cranial current.
Transcranial direct current stimulation can make your brain work better. DARPA proved it can make you better at video games, the U.S. Air Force has shown it cuts drone remote-pilot training in half, and Harvard researchers have used it to treat depression. So what is this magical device that powerfully manipulates your brain function and where can you get one?
It’s not much more than a battery and a bunch of wires. In fact, you could actually make it yourself…
Continue reading… “How to electrify your brain to be smarter with a 9-volt battery”
Can science detect hit songs?
Obviously, there’s a lot of money to be made from hit pop songs. But can you predict or even make which songs will make it ot the top of the charts?
Bring in the scientists! Artificial Intelligence researcher Tijl De Bie and colleagues analyzed 50 years’ worth of hit songs on Britain’s top 40 charts and came up with a formula.
From an interview over at The Los Angeles Times…
Continue reading… “Scientific formula for hit pop songs”
By delving into the futuring techniques of Futurist Thomas Frey, you’ll embark on an enlightening journey.
Learn More about this exciting program.