Last week there were used battleships for sale on e-bay, this week we’ve got used space shuttles. But not going as cheaply as the warships and not being turned into pots and pans either.
NASA has been trying to flog these space shuttles for a while now; they have already been marked down from $42M to $28M. And it looks like they may have finally found a new, earth-bound, home.
Continue reading… “Sold to the Highest Bidder: 3 Used Space Ships”
Scientists from the Institute of Physical and Chemical Research in Japan cultivated embryonic stem cells in a test tube and added proteins to coax them into developing. They had wanted it to form a recognizable organ, but were stunned to find that over 10 days, the stem cells had formed an embryonic eye:
Professor Yoshiki Sasai, lead author said: “What we’ve been able to do in this study is resolve a nearly century-old problem in embryology, by showing that retinal precursors have the inherent ability to give rise to the complex structure of the optic cup.”
Continue reading… “Scientists Created Embryonic Eye in Test Tube”
Pink Tentacle has a post about Pluto-kun, created by Japan’s Power Reactor and Nuclear Fuel Development Corporation in the 1990s. The helium-voiced fellow stars in a “pro-nuclear PR cartoon entitled ‘Pluto-kun, Our Reliable Friend.’ The aim of the animated film, which features the company mascot Pluto-kun, is to dispel some of the fears surrounding plutonium.”
Continue reading… “Meet Pluto-kun, the World’s Cutest Plutonium Mascot”
Futurist Thomas Frey: I often get asked the question, “How do you become a futurist?”
When I get this question, I know that the person asking is secretly thinking that being a futurist is one of the coolest professions of all times, which it is. And they want some concrete process for becoming a futurist, which there isn’t one.
Continue reading… “Creating Holes in the Fabric of the Future”
Health officer talks to factory workers.
The biggest danger to Chinese workers is not workplace accidents, but occupational disease. There are potentially 200 million workers in China that are under the threat of contracting an occupational disease according to a senior trade union official.
Continue reading… “200 Million Chinese Workers in Danger of Occupational Disease”
The bubble that has taken the place of housing is the higher education bubble.
Peter Thiel, PayPal co-founder, hedge fund manager and venture capitalist has a special talent for making money. He also has a talent for making people mad.
Girls are reaching puberty earlier than any generation in history.
Doctor’s don’t completely understand why girls are maturing faster than ever. Girls are hitting puberty earlier than any other generation in history.
Continue reading… “Doctors Aren’t Sure Why Girls Are Reaching Puberty Earlier”
Remember a few years ago when everyone decided that using algae as a biofuel feedstock would be the best thing ever? Well, progress on that front is moving so slowly that companies have realized that that might not be where the money is. But there is still all this algae lying around. So, instead, a handful of ambitious biofuel and algae production startups have decided to put their product into every segment imaginable–we’re talking about putting algae in your makeup, your protein supplements, and even your medication. Now Aurora Algae has unveiled its mysterious-sounding A2 Product Portfolio–a series of algae-based oils and powders that will be used in the biofuel, food, aquaculture, neutraceutical, and pharmaceutical industries. What will happen when all the products you use have everyone’s favorite sea vegetable added to them?
Continue reading… “In the Future, Everything Will Be Made of Algae”
Plants only need a specific wavelength to grow, not the full spectrum of the sun.
If we were to prevent a Malthusian catastrophe, we’d better figure out a way to boost crop yield to keep feeding the planet’s growing population. Gertjan Meeuws and other bioengineers of PlantLab have found an answer: a greenhouse where every aspect of the growing condition is controlled, where climate (or even the Sun) is not a factor at all…
Do you use Gmail or other email cloud service? Then you’d be surprised to learn that according to the law, the government can get your email without a warrant if it’s older than 180 days. David Kravets of Wired’s Threat Level explains…
Continue reading… “Big Brother Needs No Warrant to Snoop at Your Cloud Emails”
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyZQPjUT5B4&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]
Sapientia University has created a series of online videos that illustrate different sorting algorithms using folk dances:
What you have to do is just check that they are in fact implementing the algorithm correctly. The dancers have numbers stuck on their front and they do seem to look down and examine the value on another dancer before performing the dance routine dictated by the algorithm…
Continue reading… “Sorting Algorithm Explained with a Hungarian Folk Dance”
Swedish philosophy student Isaac Gerson thinks that file sharing is sacred. The 19-year-old leader of the Missionary Church of Kopimism believes that stealing and sharing are signs of appreciation, and has compared closed-source software to slavery. Last year, Sweden rejected the church’s application to be recognized as a religion, but Gerson isn’t giving up so easily…
Continue reading… “Swedish File Sharers Get Religious About Stealing”