What kind of mileage does a wood gas vehicle get?
During the Second World War, almost every motorised vehicle in continental Europe was converted to use firewood. Wood gas cars (also known as producer gas cars) are a not-so-elegant but surprisingly efficient and ecological alternative to their petrol cousins, whilst their range is comparable to that of electric cars…
Continue reading… “Wood Gas Vehicles: Firewood In The Fuel Tank”
Scottish scientists have come a step closer to creating a “mind-reading machine” that can show mental images.
A team from the University of Glasgow have successfully decoded brain signals related to vision.
Six volunteers were shown images of people’s faces displaying different emotions such as happiness, fear and surprise.
In a series of trials, parts of the images were randomly covered so that, for example, only the eyes or mouth were visible. Participants were then asked to identify the emotion being displayed while electrodes attached to the scalp measured the volunteers’ brainwaves.
The scientists were able to show that brainwaves varied greatly according to which part of the face was being looked at…
Continue reading… “Scottish Scientists Make ‘Mind-Reading Machine’ Breakthrough”
Lingodroids learning their language.
When robots talk to each other, they’re not generally using language as we think of it, with words to communicate both concrete and abstract concepts. Now Australian researchers are teaching a pair of robots to communicate linguistically like humans by inventing new spoken words, a lexicon that the roboticists can teach to other robots to generate an entirely new language…
Continue reading… “Robots Invent Their Own Spoken Language”
3 times the fun as regular chess?
Three-person chess, a game mentioned on by Sheldon on The Big Bang Theory, is now a reality. It requires a specialized board, but other than that, you can just follow the rules at the link. Here’s an overview from the creators…
Continue reading… “Three-Sided Chess”
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lum91xHsico&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]
Everyone has seen the classic American movie, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971), but what has the cast been up to all these years later?
Continue reading… “Where Are They Now: The Cast of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory”
Asexual fission from one cell?
Planarians, a type of flatworm, reproduce by asexual fission. Cut one in half, and the missing parts will regrow until you have two planarians. Scientists have known for a while that the regeneration took place among a cluster of cells called cNeoblasts. Some wondered if was possible to grow an entire worm from a single such cell, and so performed an experiment…
Continue reading… “Worm Regenerates Entire Body from a Single Cell”
Online retail spending reached $38 billion this quarter, up 12 percent from a $33.8 billion a year ago according to Comscore. This growth is due to an increase in the number of buyers (7%), transactions per buy (9%) and tempered by a decline in spending per transaction (4%).
According to a ComScore report released today, nearly half of those orders included free shipping, at 47% versus 53% for Q’1 ’11, 49% versus 51% in Q’4 10 (the holiday season) and 41% versus 59% in Q3 ’10.
Continue reading… “Almost Half Of All Online Orders Now Include Free Shipping”
The tragedy of the commons in action.
One of the most perverse tenets of the economic model that most of the globe adheres to is that extracting natural resources or doing damage to ecosystems is “free”. Bottled water companies don’t pay for the water they extract, lumber outfits don’t pay for the trees they chop down, automakers don’t pay for the air pollution they generate, Big Oil doesn’t pay for the oil it extracts, and so on and so forth. This problem, known as the tragedy of the commons, is one that’s been an ugly thorn in capitalism’s side from the get-go. For the most part, we deal with it by imposing restrictions on how much companies can pollute, creating environmental protection agencies to enforce such restrictions, and by designating nature preserves to shield nature from corporate claws. But it’s not working…
Continue reading… “Are We One Step Closer to Pricing Nature?”
Exactly how long do you want your pet to stay around?
Grieving pet owners are turning to a US woman to give their lost loved ones eternal life by making them into mummies. PD Cagliastro is one of few in the US offering animal mummification services based on the ancient Egyptian art It took her 20 years to perfect her formula by studying embalming, consulting with chemistry students and reading the few scraps of ancient Egyptian texts available on the subject.
“It was a sick fascination,” said Ms Cagliastro, who works and lives in her “house of death” with her teenage daughter and her husband, an exterminator…
Continue reading… “Woman Makes Mummies for Bereaved Pet Owners”
Help keep the Busuu language alive.
Busuu is a language that is only spoken by eight people in the world (according to Wikipedia this may be as low as three people as of 2005) in Cameroon. To help save this dying language the folks at Busuu.com have created a music video in the Busuu language.
Continue reading… “Busuu: A Language That Only 8 People Speak”
Like a drop on a wine glass, a snake venom “tear” runs down the groove of the fang.
The surface tension acting on the venom is the dominant physical force underlying envenomation.
Most snakes do not inject venom into their victims bodies using hollow fangs, contrary to common misconceptions. The fact is that most snakes and many other venomous reptiles have no hollow fangs. Physicists have now uncovered the tricks these animals use to force their venom under the skin of their victims.
For years Professor Leo von Hemmen, a biophysicist at the TU Muenchen, and Professor Bruce Young, a biologist at the University of Massachusetts Lowell, have been researching the sense of hearing in snakes. While discussing the toxicity of their snakes, it dawned on them that only few snakes inject their venom into their victims’ bodies using hollow fangs. Yet, even though the vast majority of venomous reptiles lack hollow fangs, they are effective predators.
Only around one seventh of all venomous snakes, like the rattlesnake, rely on the trick with the hollow fang. The vast majority has developed another system…
Since the debut of the iPad, tablets have captured the imagination of consumers. In just one year, the iPad surpassed even the most optimistic of projections to define a brand new product category and become the best-selling gadget of all time, and Forrester analysts project that in 2011, tablet sales will more than double.
But are tablets ready for the classroom? Though tablets have caught on with consumers, the higher education market has been slower to adopt, and understandably so. From grades to degrees to job placement after graduation, the devices that are used in classrooms are tied to important outcomes…
Continue reading… “6 Reasons Why Tablets Are Ready for the Classroom”
By delving into the futuring techniques of Futurist Thomas Frey, you’ll embark on an enlightening journey.
Learn More about this exciting program.