Psychic Octopus Paul in the spotlight once again.
An octopus housed in a German aquarium, Paul rose to worldwide fame when he managed to accurately predict each of the winners in the 2010 FIFA World Cup, soccer’s premier event. He went on to predict — again, accurately — the winner of the final.
Paul retired from predictions after the World Cup and died later that year. He’s gone, but not forgotten…
Continue reading… “Denver filmmaker to debut documentary on psychic octopus”
Apple’s iBooks 2
Apple’s new iBooks 2 initiative has the potential to vastly improve the K-12 learning experience. They will offer attractive digital textbooks with interactive features like videos, animations, definitions, flashcards, and quizzes. But, with the proprietary nature of the software it means that publishers, parents, and schools will be locked into Apple’s ecosystem.
Rising human carbon dioxide emissions may be affecting the brains and central nervous system of sea fishes.
Rising human carbon dioxide emissions may be affecting the brains and central nervous system of sea fishes with serious consequences for their survival, an international scientific team has found…
Continue reading… “Carbon dioxide Is ‘driving fish crazy’”
Telefonplan School, in Stockholm
Sweden has new school system that is eliminating all of its classrooms in favor of an environment that fosters children’s “curiosity and creativity.” (Pics)
Continue reading… “New school system in Sweden is eliminating classrooms entirely”
DISPLAX Multitouch Globe from DISPLAX™ Interactive Systems on Vimeo.
The demo kind of falls apart when they start poking around Windows, but Displax’s new 40-inch diameter Multitouch Globe looks like an absolute joy when it comes to navigating interactive maps. It’s just too bad it’s a bit impractical…
Continue reading… “Multitouch Domes are a great way to display maps”
iBooks 2 app
Apple reinvents the textbook by way of an update to its iBooks app for the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch on Thursday. The iBooks 2 app offers a new experience for students and teachers.
Continue reading… “Apple reinvents the textbook with the iBooks 2 app”
Two new laws proposed by US legislators, the Stop Online Piracy Act and Protect IP Act, have been attracting a very negative reaction from the web community over the past couple of months, which is today culminating in a day of protests. Aiming to curtail copyright infringement on the web by giving the US government unprecedented new powers, both SOPA and PIPA have been rejected as overreaching and unhelpful laws that cannot coexist with a free and open internet.
A lot of websites (most notably Wikipedia) are going dark today in protest of SOPA.
But the humor site The Oatmeal easily wins for its hilarious GIF about the proposed law. In its own way, it does a better job of explaining what SOPA means than a lot of the serious sites out there.
Here it is after the jump. Watch and laugh…
Today’s Kickstarter Creativity Spotlight focuses on balloon mapping. What the heck is balloon mapping you may ask?
Balloon mapping is sending a camera up on a balloon, snapping photos, and stitching them into a map. Over the past year and a half these fine folks have built a global mapper community and this is your chance to participate in all the excitement…
Continue reading… “Balloon mapping kits by Mathew Lippincott”
Cycling transportation gets a boost in Sweden.
If you want to find an unassuming place where bicycling is a way of life and nobody makes a big deal about it, head south. The south of Sweden, that is, where the small university town of Lund has a big bicycle habit. They just don’t advertise it.
In Lund, 60% of the populace bikes or takes public transport to go about their daily tasks. And then there’s Malmö, Sweden’s third largest city – only 20 miles southwest of Lund. Malmö also doesn’t have a reputation for fantastic biking. But some say it is the country’s best biking city – ahead of both Stockholm, the capital; Gothenburg, the second largest Swedish metropolitan area, and a host of smaller bike-friendly burgs…
Continue reading… “A new cycling superhighway. Not in the U.S.A.”
Space gas has its consequences.
Humans produce two flammable gases: hydrogen and methane. Flammable gases accumulate in an enclosed space and can ignite. Astronauts are humans who spend lots of time in enclosed space. The logic is irrefutable. So, what’s the risk to farting astronauts?
Between 1968 and 1971, researchers Edwin L. Murphy and Doris H. Calloway published three, count ‘em, three studies on flatulence. The 1969 paper was about astronauts and their farts, specifically a study to determine the level of flatulence produced by difference astronaut space diets. Picturing how the study went brings into focus the many indignities astronauts face for their shot at space travel…
Continue reading… “The danger of farting in space”
The “Star-Turn” installation was made as part of a fundraising effort Help for Heroes, a charity for wounded war veterans. The installation featured a geodesic dome that protected riders of a static Specialized Sirrus bike, which when pedalled, would spin attached armatures mounted with a helix of tea light candles each.
According to the press release, Munro’s design was inspired by accident..
Continue reading… “Museum’s geodesic dome houses human-powered light show”
Some of the innovations at CES were basic and if you saw one of them you were going to see 20. Others jumped out and smacked you in the noggin because there were obvious landmark steps in a new direction. The Leonar3Do virtual reality design kit really captured our imagination and kept us thinking all day and night of the possibilities it was capable of…
Continue reading… “World’s first desktop virtual reality design kit – Leonar3Do”
By delving into the futuring techniques of Futurist Thomas Frey, you’ll embark on an enlightening journey.
Learn More about this exciting program.