When Dr. Seuss came up with the idea, this wasn’t what he had in mind
“The only difference between a taxman and a taxidermist is that the taxidermist leaves the skin.” – – Mark Twain
Badass Electric Motorcycle Gets 185 Miles on a Charge
Go Through Your Mid-Life Crisis Without Waking Up the Neighbors
The Sora is a new electric motorcycle by Lito Green Motion, a Canadian company. It looks fairly badass and thanks to its 12 kWh advanced lithium-polymer batteries, it has an electric range of 300 kilometers (185 miles) and a top speed of 200 kph (124 mph). Read on for more specs and photos.
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Miniature Crossbow Fires Flaming Bolts
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfOyE5b2jh4&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]
YouTube user T. Shamir, who made the excellent tiny cannon that we featured last year, has machined a crossbow from gold, silver, and steel. It comes with a tiny aperture sight and a pull of 5.9 pounds. The above video shows the impressive capabilities of this little crossbow and the various bolts that Shamir made…
Chocolate Compound Beats Codeine for Cough-Suppression
Chocolate to help a cough?
A compound found in chocolate outperforms over-the-counter and codeine-based cough-suppressants in clinical trials. The compound, theobromine, was written up in the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology Journal following a small placebo-controlled study at Imperial College London. Our GP told us that the best thing for a cough was a spoonful of honey, and it’s pretty much all we use around our house (well, that and the vile, repulsive, disgusting, incredibly effective Buckley’s Mixture — but that’s a last resort).
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Embracing Our Inner Cyborg
The emerging market for smartphone peripherals is set to explode
Futurist Thomas Frey: It recently occurred to me that I was pulling my iPhone out of my pocket several times an hour to check information. Over the past few months I‘ve become very self-conscious about the addictive nature of information and the OCD-like mannerisms that follow, and this constant checking-in is only one of several habit-changers I’ve noticed that accompany smartphones.
Swearing Helps Relieve Pain
Swearing helps numb the pain.
One way to help numb the pain after an injury? New research suggests swearing helps. Keele University scientists found that letting forth a volley of foul language can have a powerful painkilling effect, especially for people who do not normally use expletives.
Older Workers Are More Productive Than Younger Employees
Older staff are more productive than younger colleagues
Older workers are more productive than their younger colleagues, according to researchers.
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Creative Ambient Ads
Advertising Agency: Juniper Park, Toronto, Canada
We usually think that advertising is something that gives us time to go to the bathroom while watching a TV show or a movie. But advertising can be cool and creative. (Pics)
Dead Animals on Display at Zoo
Dead animals are easier to display.
The Cologne zoo has a special animal exhibition on display: a collection of 20 animals including an elephant, a giraffe, and an ostrich, preserved through a process called plastination. German anatomist Gunther von Hagens became famous for his controversial exhibition displaying plastinated human bodies…
One In Three US Citizens Live 50 Miles Or Less From A Nuclear Reactor
All manner of wonderful graphics are being created from the newly-available 2010 US Census data. A new sort of nuclear family, for example, is portrayed with this mouse-over map showing the population density inside 10 and 50 mile evacuation radii around the US’ 65 nuclear power plants (containing a total of 104 reactors).
The upshot: One in every three Americans currently resides less than 50 miles from an operating nuclear reactor. MSNBC mapped the details in Nuclear neighbors: Population rises near US reactors …
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Phonetic Clues Hint Language Is Africa-Born
Is this the origin of language?
A researcher analyzing the sounds in languages spoken around the world has detected an ancient signal that points to southern Africa as the place where modern human language originated. The finding fits well with the evidence from fossil skulls and DNA that modern humans originated in Africa. It also implies, though does not prove, that modern language originated only once, an issue of considerable controversy among linguists…
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Underground Telescope Could Give Scientists First Glimpse of the Dawn of the Universe
Scientists could get their first glimpse of the dawn of the universe from a telescope buried up to half a mile underground. This new device is designed to detect gravitational waves. Gravitational waves are an elusive phenomena created by some of the most violent events in the universe such as black holes, neutron stars and the Big Bang.