Scientists have developed an image scanning program that can distinguish between individual zebras by their stripes:
When a zebra has been entered into the database and given a StripeCode, the researchers match another picture of the same animal by comparing the StripeStrings of the new and original images. Each image will generate a different set of StripeStrings, but the underlying ratios of black and white should remain similar…
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSVQsyZLtKg&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]
Actually, the Segway would be a fairly sound vehicle for modern jousting, as this commercial for the State of Washington’s lottery illustrates. But buying lottery tickets is probably not a likely route to this most excellent goal…
Futurist Thomas Frey: On Monday evening I presented my thoughts on the “Future of Mobile Apps & Peripherals” at our monthly Night with a Futurist event. My talk was followed by a fascinating panel discussion with three of the industry’s brightest minds – Michael Sitarzewski, Lisa Calkins, and Gary Moskoff with Karl Dakin moderating the discussion.
Teenagers report overwhelming cravings when deprived of their laptops and cell phones.
Researchers found 79 per cent of students subjected to a complete media blackout for just one day reported adverse reactions ranging from distress to confusion and isolation.
The ETH-Caltech solar fuel reactor uses concentrated heat from the sun to create fuel from water and carbon dioxide.
New scheme would use only sunlight, air and water to supply energy for cars, laptops, GPS systems. “At the California Institute of Technology, they’re developing a way to turn sunlight and water into fuel for our cars.”–President Barack Obama, Jan. 25, 2011.
Continue reading… “Everything Will be Powered by the Sun in the Future”
iPhone jailbreaking has now evolved into a lucrative industry with millions of consumers.
George Mason University senior, Kevin Lee, says he earns about $50,000 a year with an illicit-sounding pitch on Craigslist: “Get Your iPhone Jailbroken Today.”
Continue reading… “iPhone Jailbreaking Has Become a Lucrative Business”
Sex selection is now invading parts of India that didn’t used to practice it
The news from India’s 2011 census is almost all heartening. Literacy is up; life expectancy is up; family size is stabilising. But there is one grim exception. In 2011 India counted only 914 girls aged six and under for every 1,000 boys.
Elderly woman cuts off internet to Armenia after accidentally cutting through an underground cable.
A 75-year-old Georgian woman is facing jail time after she accidentally sliced through an underground cable and caused all Internet services in neighboring Armenia to crash.
Continue reading… “75 Year Old Georgian Woman Cuts Off Internet to Armenia”
Emanuele Lopopolo of Italy has invented a portable backrest that allows its wearer to take a break from standing by leaning back onto a telescopic pole…
Continue reading… “Italian Man Invents ‘Kangaroo Tail for Humans’”
Lionfish are pretty, but they belong in the Pacific and Indian Oceans. They lack natural predators in the Caribbean, so lionfish have become quite the invasive species since they escaped from aquariums ten years ago to breed in the waters off the US and Central America. In Honduras, divers are not only hunting them, they are also training sharks to eat the lionfish!
The air pollution that results from the millions of cars and trucks that crowd our highways is ugly stuff — there’s no doubt that the particulate matter it’s laced with causes respiratory illness, heart disease, cancer, and other devastating health effects. As bad as that is, we still might not be properly grasping the extent of the danger air pollution presents — researchers at USC have now linked freeway air pollution to increased brain damage in mice. And they’re concerned humans might suffer similarly.
Continue reading… “Freeway Air Pollution May Cause Brain Damage”
Wassonite discovery.
NASA and co-researchers from the United States, South Korea and Japan have found a new mineral named “Wassonite” in one of the most historically significant meteorites recovered in Antarctica in December 1969…
Continue reading… “Scientists Find New Type of Mineral in Historic Meteorite”