Russian photographer Andrey Pavlov uses real ants to create amazingly cool photographs in the series “Ant Tales”
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Overly complex corkscrew weighs 771 pounds of steampunk awesomeness
Wine snobs, you are behind the times if you’re still using a wing corkscrew. Rob Higgs’s hand-cranked machine uses gears, pulleys, chains and weights to open a bottle of wine, then carefully pour its contents into a glass…
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Why you have your best ideas when you’re least productive
Ideas happen at the darnedest times.
We all have our favorite times to power through work; some of us are up at the crack of dawn toiling away, while others feel more productive when the sun’s setting. But a new study suggests that out best ideas actually come to us when we’re not at our best.
Researchers have been studying how innovation and creativity varies with circadian rhythms—the natural patterns that make you a morning person or an evening type—and the findings are suprising…
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Blood Lamp
[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/6792724[/vimeo]
What if power came at a cost to the individual?
The average American consumes 3383kwh of energy per year. That’s equivalent to leaving the light on in 4 rooms for a whole year. The simple flick of a switch allows us to power appliances and gadgets 24/7 without a thought to where it comes from and the cost to the environment.
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World’s largest human mattress dominoes record toppled!
The world record for largest human mattress dominoes has been broken: you now have to assemble and then topple over 850 humans to claim the title World’s Largest Human Mattress Dominoes…
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How to extract your own DNA using household items
You can extract your own DNA with drinking water, salt, dish soap, alcohol, food coloring, and your own spit! This NOVA/PBS-made video shows you how.
I’ve been writing about DNA for more than a decade, and I just realized that until this video, I’ve never actually seen DNA. And there it is, in the form of a white string in a plastic cup. Pretty freaking neato…
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SOPA’s author wants everything you do online logged and made available without a warrant
Lamar Smith has a unique vision for your internet rights.
Lamar Smith (R-TX), author of the ill-starred SOPA Internet regulation, has an even dumber idea for the Internet. In the name of fighting child pornography, he wants to force ISPs to log everything you do online, then make it available to police and government agents without a warrant. Leslie Meredith has a writeup on the mounting opposition to Smith’s latest act of unconstitutional lunacy…
New world’s shortest man
Chandra Bahadur Dangi with his certificates.
Chandra Bahadur Dangi of Nepal is now officially the world’s shortest living man. He’s 21.5″ (54.6 cm) tall. If you have a hard time estimating that, notice the, er, iPad included in the photo above for comparison. Dangi beat out the Philippine’s Junrey Balawing by two full inches. From Guinness World Records…
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Facebook’s IPO could net California up to $2.5 Billion in tax revenue
According to California’s Legislative Analyst’s Office, Facebook going public could be very good to more than just investors and longtime employees. Their estimates have the IPO netting the state in the neighborhood of $2.45 billion from income taxes…
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The Smithsonian turns to 3D printing to share their collection
Print your own Jefferson.
According to The Creators Project, the Smithsonian has over 137 million pieces in its collection, but only enough room to display about 2 percent of them. So it’s turning to 3D printing to share as much as it can.
Working with a company called Redeye, who specializes in 3D scanning and rapid prototyping, the Smithsonian hopes to clone many of their pieces so they can be lent to other museums around the world, and safely included in traveling exhibitions…
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Tongue drive system
An oral breakthru!
Georgia Tech has developed the Tongue Drive System, in which a stud in the tongue acts as a mouse against a pad attached to the roof of one’s mouth. The device gives unprecedented control to paralyzed computer users.
The new dental appliance contains magnetic field sensors mounted on its four corners that detect movement of a tiny magnet attached to the tongue…
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How to turn off Google’s search-history logging and erase your stored history
Google forges forward with new privacy policies.
With Google’s privacy policy change looming, the Electronic Frontier Foundation has published a guide to turning off Google’s search-history logging, thus preventing your search-history from all of Google’s services, including YouTube, from being merged and tracked together. You can also erase your stored search-history while you’re there…
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