Cheers!
You are told before you reach 21 that drinking alcohol is bad for you . Then you’re suddenly told that, really, it’s drinking alcohol and driving that’s bad. The latter is definitely true. But the former? Scientists aren’t so sure.
Bees ‘Self-Medicate’ when infected with some pathogens
When faced with pathogenic fungi, bees line their hives with more propolis – the waxy, yellow substance seen here.
Research from North Carolina State University shows that honey bees “self-medicate” when their colony is infected with a harmful fungus, bringing in increased amounts of antifungal plant resins to ward off the pathogen…
Continue reading… “Bees ‘Self-Medicate’ when infected with some pathogens”
Woman making fortune from made-to-measure penis warmers
Croatian seamstress Radmila Kus
Croatian seamstress Radmila Kus has revealed she is struggling to cope with the huge demand for her latest product – her very own range of willy warmers. Knitting fan Radmila said ‘she just can’t keep up’ after launching her bespoke men’s product – and has had to recruit a small army of knitters in a bid to increase production…
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Oldest man-made animal structures found by Google Earth
Google Earth strikes again!
It looks like simple mounds of earth from ground level, but when archaeologist Robert Benfer looked at Google Earth images of Peru, he discovered that they look like orcas, condors, and even a duck.
Archaeological evidence at the sites pegged the mounds at more than 4,000 years old – making them the oldest animal-shaped structures made by man…
Continue reading… “Oldest man-made animal structures found by Google Earth”
Screen rage is the new temper-tantrum
Don’t take away the iPad!
At five years-old, it’s no fun getting interrupted while you’re focused on something. As a parent, I compensate for that by employing a series of intricately planned measures to guide my son from whatever he happens to be doing towards whatever it is that I want him to do instead.
The extremity of these measures depends entirely what’s being interrupted. If he’s playing outside with his sister, the steps I take are fairly mundane. I give him a few, gentle time checks (“five minutes until dinner” … “3 minutes until dinner” …), and then offer something enticing enough to make putting down the ball seem like less of an intrusion (“Tonight’s chicken has both teri and yaki on it!”).
If I need to transition my son from building a cardboard village with grandma to going to bed for the night, I need to combine my time checks with some subtle threats and an Obi Wan Kenobi-like response to his three hundred or so repetitions of some variation of, “No. I don’t want to. But you said. Why are you doing this to me?”
The techniques are all pretty simple and effective. Until it’s time to get him to put down the iPad.
Insect inspires super-buoyant aerogel
Water strider inspires super-buoyant material.
Among the lightest solid materials in existence are Aerogels, and they are created by replacing the liquid component of a gel with a gas – this results in their extremely low density, and has earned them the nickname of “frozen smoke.” Now, scientists have created a new type of aerogel that is inspired by the feet of the water strider. The material is reportedly so buoyant, that a boat made from one pound (454 grams) of it could carry about 1,000 pounds (454 kg) of cargo.
Floating wind turbines will harness high altitude winds
Altaeros Energies floating wind turbine.
Altaeros Energies has developed a floating wind turbine that’s a cross between a traditional windmill and a blimp in an effort to harness strong high-altitude winds. After some successful tests, the Altaeros team is confident that this new levitating wind turbine will be a viable clean energy option for remote villages and military sites.
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Bump Pay – an app that lets you pay your friends by bumping iPhones
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzTZ0WmwahM[/youtube]
If your friend owes you money, lacking cash is no excuse if he’s got an iPhone. Just like sending contact information with the Bump app, you can now transfer money the same way with Bump Pay. The free app asks for your email address when it’s initially opened. You and your iPhone-wielding friend bump hands; when you feel the vibration, the money’s a-moving.
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Evacuated Tube Technology – rewriting the rules of high speed travel
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5EgVHdTuE10[/youtube]
ET3, a licensing organization, holds a patent to Evacuated Tube Technology or ETT and say that with their tubes, you will eventually be able to get you from New York to Beijing in 2 hours and from New York to London in less than an hour.
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Fifty percent of mobile phone owners in the U.S. have smartphones
According to a new Nielsen report, there is a big shift happening right before our eyes: Smartphones now account for 50% of all mobile phones in the United States.
Continue reading… “Fifty percent of mobile phone owners in the U.S. have smartphones”
Oscillating Gel Acts Like Artificial Skin, Giving Robots Potential Ability to ‘Feel’
Is this the face of feeling?
Sooner than later, robots may have the ability to “feel.” In a paper published online March 26 in Advanced Functional Materials, a team of researchers from the University of Pittsburgh and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) demonstrated that a nonoscillating gel can be resuscitated in a fashion similar to a medical cardiopulmonary resuscitation…
Robo-readers: new helpers for teachers in the U.S.
Robo-readers are computers programmed to scan student essays and spit out a grade.
High school students in the U.S. are terrible writers, and one education reform group thinks it has an answer: robots.
Continue reading… “Robo-readers: new helpers for teachers in the U.S.”
