An oatmeal don’t.
Writing on the New York Times blog, Mark Bittman reviews McDonald’s nightmarish attempt at making oatmeal (a foodstuff with one ingredient):
Cat Purrs as Loud as Boeing 737
Smokey knows how to purr!
Pet cat Smokey is believed to have the loudest purr in the world – with piercing purrs as loud as a lawnmower. Most cats purr at around 25 decibels but Smokey’s powerful purrs average an amazing 80 decibels.
When measured close-up her purrs reach an incredible 92 decibels, equivalent to the noise of a Boeing 737 coming into land…
Continue reading… “Cat Purrs as Loud as Boeing 737”
Humming Bird Robot Spy “Ornithopter”
Next generation war technology
Developed by the company AeroVironment Inc., the miniature spybot looks like a hummingbird complete with flapping wings… The ornithopter can fly into buildings under the control of an operator flying the spybot with the help of a feed from its tiny video camera. The prototype is capable of flying at speeds of up to 18 km/h (11 mph) and weighs 19 grams, which is about the same as an AA battery… The specifications given to the firm by the Pentagon included being able to hover in an 8 km/h wind gust and being able to fly in and out of buildings via a normal door…
Libya Follows Egypt’s Lead, Starts Shutting Off Internet Services
Both the BBC and the AFP are reporting that Muammar Gaddafi’s government in Libya has begun to block user access to Facebook in the country’s capital of Tripoli and is sporadically shutting down electricity access and access to Internet connections in the rest of the country as a response to anti-govermental protests…
Continue reading… “Libya Follows Egypt’s Lead, Starts Shutting Off Internet Services”
TSA Screeners Stole Over $200K From Fliers’ Baggage
And to think the TSA is ‘protecting’ us.
Two TSA screeners from New York’s Kennedy airport were busted for stealing over $200,000 in cash from fliers. They targetted people they thought were drug dealers, since they didn’t think their victims would complain…
Continue reading… “TSA Screeners Stole Over $200K From Fliers’ Baggage”
Promiscuous Apes Make More Sperm
Promiscuous ape species have bigger testicles
Chimpanzees produce 200 times more sperm than gorillas, the world’s largest primates, and 14 times more than orangutans, scientists based in Japan reveal.
Promiscuous ape species have bigger testicles, and the latest discovery finally provides evidence that they also produce more sperm.
Scientists previously proposed that chimps have large testicles because several males mate with a single female, and so have to produce more sperm in order to compete.
For their research, published in the American Journal of Primatology, scientists studied chimpanzees, orangutans and gorillas from zoos in Japan and Indonesia.
Continue reading… “Promiscuous Apes Make More Sperm”
HOW TO: Turn Your Facebook Profile Photo Into a Video
Say goodbye to boring old profile photos.
Some Facebook users — myself formerly among them — are obsessive profile tweakers. We edit our list of interests. We reorganize our photo albums and experiment with awesome profile photo hacks. We weigh carefully whether we want to “Like” this Page or that, because we wonder how that information will be inferred. And we’re always just a little bit, well, bored with our profiles.
Enter FlipYourProfile, a new Facebook app slash browser plugin that allows you to replace your profile photo with a video. That’s right…
Continue reading… “HOW TO: Turn Your Facebook Profile Photo Into a Video”
After Almost 20 Years of Legal Battles, Chevron Fined $8 Billion for Amazon Pollution
A slap on the hand or a slap in the face?
It’s been a long battle: people of the Ecuadorean Amazon against Chevron, which is accused of dumping more than 18 billion gallons of toxic waste sludge into the Amazon, leaving people sick with cancer and suffering miscarriages and birth defects. But the BBC reports that, after a lawsuit lasting nearly 20 years, a court in Ecuador has fined Chevron $8 billion for the pollution…
Fixing The Official Kilogram
Fixing the problem with the kilogram.
The “reference kilogram” is a lump of metal in France — the kilo being the only metric measurement not based on some objective standard. A project is underway to replace the kilo with something independently reproducible: perfectly spherical balls of based onCarbon-12. Incidentally, these new kilos would also be “the roundest objects in the world.”
Continue reading… “Fixing The Official Kilogram”
Zapping Microbes With Electricity Could Cut Chemical Use in Wastewater by 50%
Changing the face of mining?
The mining industry requires significant amounts of water, and the water used becomes polluted with toxins including arsenic, mercury and sulfates. Typically, the water is cleaned with microbes which do their job by adding or removing electrons from the soup, but they need to be supplemented with chemical additives. But a new process could change that, feeding microbes with electric charges instead, and cutting the need for chemicals by half, or possibly even more…
Continue reading… “Zapping Microbes With Electricity Could Cut Chemical Use in Wastewater by 50%”
Girl’s 26 Digits Breaks World Record for Most Fingers and Toes
Behold the many digits of Lei Yadi Min.
A one-year-old girl from China has set a new world record for having the most fingers and toes on any living person…
Continue reading… “Girl’s 26 Digits Breaks World Record for Most Fingers and Toes”
32 Percent of Russians Think the Sun Revolves Around Earth
Many Russians are a little off on their science.
Does the sun revolve around Earth? Is radioactivity a human invention? Did humans ever live side by side with dinosaurs? A surprising number of people in Russia answered those and other questions with a resounding “yes.”
Continue reading… “32 Percent of Russians Think the Sun Revolves Around Earth”
