New Discoveries – Page 38

Breakthrough Thinking, Crazy Stuff, Historical Perspectives, Hot Issues, Latest News, New Discoveries

McDonald’s Is Spraying Robbers with an Invisible DNA Mist

January 24, 2012

Invisible DNA mist is traceable under blacklight for two weeks.

Apparently, robbing McDonald’s has become a thing in Australia. McRobbery’s are so rampant down under that McDonald’s locations in Aussieland are taking measures to protect themselves by spraying criminals with an invisible mist of DNA. I repeat, AN INVISIBLE MIST OF DNA. The DNA seeps into the criminal’s skin and is visible under blacklight for two weeks.

Sounds ape nuts right? I mean, this sort of tech is needed at a McDonald’s? Of all places!? According to McDonald’s, this is how the SelectDNA system works…

Continue reading… “McDonald’s Is Spraying Robbers with an Invisible DNA Mist”

Art, Breakthrough Thinking, Crazy Stuff, Historical Perspectives, New Discoveries, New Viewpoints

Tour the underground missile silo home

January 24, 2012

Haven’t you had dreams like this?

You’ve probably seen the ad for this underground missile base in New York state that’s been on the market for some time. Now you have a chance to take a virtual tour! Scout from Scouting New York went to the site and the owners were gracious enough to let him look around and take plenty of pictures…

Continue reading… “Tour the underground missile silo home”

Analysis, Animals, Big Problems, Education, Global Warming, Globalism, Health & Fitness, Historical Perspectives, Latest News, New Discoveries, Plant Life

Carbon dioxide Is ‘driving fish crazy’

January 23, 2012

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’”

Analysis, Breakthrough Thinking, New Discoveries, New Viewpoints

Old electric car batteries to find second life on the power grid

January 20, 2012

The Nissan Leaf batteries have extended value beyond powering the car.

Reincarnation for Lithium-Ion

It’s not because a battery pack isn’t good enough for an electric or hybrid car anymore that it should go directly to a recycling plant. There are lots of potential secondary uses for batteries that can still hold more than half of their original charge. Articles have already been written about how they could be used to store wind power to reduce the intermittency problem, but a new partnership between Nissan North-America, ABB, 4R Energy, and Sumitomo Corporation of America believes that used electric car batteries (Nissan LEAF ones, in this case) could be used for residential and commercial energy storage, even acting as emergency back-up during natural disasters like last year’s earthquake and tsunami in Japan…

Continue reading… “Old electric car batteries to find second life on the power grid”

Analysis, Breakthrough Thinking, Crazy Stuff, Culture, Health & Fitness, New Discoveries, New Viewpoints

Butt biometrics

January 19, 2012

There’s a bad moon rising?

Last year, we heard about a new technology to identify individuals based on the pressure signature of their feet on the ground. Now, Japanese scientists at the Advanced Institute of Industrial Technology built a system that can identify an individual by the pressure signature of his or her ass. They’re not, er, resting on their laurels though. There’s work to be done!

Continue reading… “Butt biometrics”

Analysis, Big Problems, Breakthrough Thinking, Crazy Stuff, Education, Health & Fitness, Historical Perspectives, Human Behavior, Humor, New Discoveries

The danger of farting in space

January 16, 2012

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”

Health & Fitness, New Discoveries, Science & Technology News

Scientists discover sixth basic taste the human tongue can detect – fat

January 15, 2012

The researchers hope their discovery can be exploited to combat obesity by increasing people’s sensitivity to fat in their food.

Scientists thought the human tongue could detect only four basic tastes: sweet, sour, salt and bitter. Then a fifth was discovered, “umami” or savory. Now, researchers have identified a previously-unrecognized “sixth taste” – fat.

Continue reading… “Scientists discover sixth basic taste the human tongue can detect – fat”

Animals, Award Winner, Current Events, New Discoveries

World’s smallest vertebrate discovered in New Guinea

January 14, 2012

Small but landmark frog.

SU’s Chris Austin recently discovered two new species of frogs in New Guinea, one of which is now the world’s tiniest known vertebrate, averaging only 7.7 millimeters in size — less than one-third of an inch. It ousts Paedocypris progenetica, an Indonesian fish averaging more than 8 millimeters, from the record. Austin, leading a team of scientists from the United States including LSU graduate student Eric Rittmeyer, made the discovery during a three-month long expedition to the island of New Guinea, the world’s largest and tallest tropical island…

Continue reading… “World’s smallest vertebrate discovered in New Guinea”

Great Videos, New Discoveries, Science & Technology News

IBM creates a bit of data using only 12 iron atoms

January 14, 2012

Miniaturized information storage in atomic-scale antiferromagnets. The binary representation of the letter ‘S’ (01010011) was stored in the Neel states of eight iron atom arrays.

After five years of work, IBM announced on Thursday that its researchers have been able to reduce from about one million to 12 the number of atoms required to create a bit of data. (video)

Continue reading… “IBM creates a bit of data using only 12 iron atoms”

Art, Breakthrough Thinking, Crazy Stuff, DIY, Education, Entertainment, Great New Product, Historical Perspectives, New Discoveries, New Inventions, New Viewpoints

World’s first desktop virtual reality design kit – Leonar3Do

January 13, 2012

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”

Great New Product, Medical Breakthrough, New Discoveries, Science & Technology News

Advance your health with iHealth peripherals

January 12, 2012

Glucose monitoring is just one aspect of the iHealth package.

iHealth Lab, Inc. offers innovative, mobile personal healthcare products that make it simple and easy to test, track, graph and securely share health information. The iHealth Blood Pressure Dock is the first personal health management tool for iPod touch, iPhone and iPad. iHealth Lab continues innovating with its iHealth Scale, which measures, tracks and securely shares weight change over time. Plans to develop a suite of personal healthcare devices and applications designed for use with the Apple iOS mobile platform are under way…

Photos by Thomas Frey

Continue reading… “Advance your health with iHealth peripherals”

Breakthrough Thinking, Entertainment, Great New Product, Nanotechnology, New Discoveries, New Inventions

HzO and WaterBlock technology can save your electronics

January 12, 2012

Don’t worry if your electronics take a splash with HzO technology.

HzO’s award winning proprietary WaterBlock is cutting-edge technology that protects your valuable digital electronics from their number one nemesis: H2O. Powerful and invisible, WaterBlock protects your devices on a molecular scale, by coating all the circuitry on your electronic devices so you can breathe easy no matter what the situation you find yourself in…

Article and photos by Thomas Frey reporting directly from CES in Las Vegas.

Continue reading… “HzO and WaterBlock technology can save your electronics”