It’s been a long battle: people of the Ecuadorean Amazon against Chevron, which is accused of dumping more than 18 billion gallons of toxic waste sludge into the Amazon, leaving people sick with cancer and suffering miscarriages and birth defects. But the BBC reports that, after a lawsuit lasting nearly 20 years, a court in Ecuador has fined Chevron $8 billion for the pollution…
How much do you drink?
According to data compiled by environmental think tank World Resources Institute, Scandinavians drink a lot of coffee. Between 6.8 and 12.0 kilograms per year. So world travelers, does this map match up with your experiences?
Skype announced a new partner program for its Wi-Fi hotspots service, Skype Access, at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona Monday.
Using Skype Access, Skype users can pay for Wi-Fi hotspot access using Skype Credit on a pay-as-you-go (per minute) basis, rather than having to pay by day or by hour. Skype introduced this program in January 2009 and has slowly expanded the network over time…
Continue reading… “Skype Can Now Get You Access to 500,000+ Wi-Fi Hotspots”
Your unusual username could allow marketers and scammers to build a more complex picture of you.
By creating a distinctive username—and reusing it on multiple websites—you may be giving online marketers and scammers a simple way to track you. Four researchers from the French National Institute of Computer Science (INRIA) studied over 10 million usernames—collected from public Google profiles, eBay accounts, and several other sources. They found that about half of the usernames used on one site could be linked to another online profile, potentially allowing marketers and scammers to build a more complex picture the users.
The “reference kilogram” is a lump of metal in France — the kilo being the only metric measurement not based on some objective standard. A project is underway to replace the kilo with something independently reproducible: perfectly spherical balls of based onCarbon-12. Incidentally, these new kilos would also be “the roundest objects in the world.”
Sexual reproduction is likely to be impossible in space due to cosmic radiation bombarding the human body.
Researchers at the agency’s Ames Research Centre in California found that without effective shielding on spacecraft, powerful proton particles would probably sterilize any female embryo conceived in deep space.
Researchers propose new planet “Tyche” on distant fringe of solar system.
If you grew up thinking there were nine planets and were shocked when Pluto was demoted five years ago, get ready for another surprise. There may be nine after all, and Jupiter may not be the largest.
Around the world there are signs that for some people who consume these drinks, there are side effects.
With Americans chugging energy drinks like never before, fears are growing among doctors that the ingredients might be putting some consumers at risk. The beverages contain a hodgepodge of caffeine, sugar and dietary supplements such as vitamins and herbal extracts, whose effects aren’t well understood.
Continue reading… “Doctors Warn Energy Drinks Putting Consumers at Risk as Sales Soar”
Women with high levels of the sex hormone oestrogen have prettier faces, research suggests. The findings make evolutionary sense – men are attracted to the most fertile women, the University of St Andrews team told a Royal Society journal. (pics)
The mining industry requires significant amounts of water, and the water used becomes polluted with toxins including arsenic, mercury and sulfates. Typically, the water is cleaned with microbes which do their job by adding or removing electrons from the soup, but they need to be supplemented with chemical additives. But a new process could change that, feeding microbes with electric charges instead, and cutting the need for chemicals by half, or possibly even more…
Continue reading… “Zapping Microbes With Electricity Could Cut Chemical Use in Wastewater by 50%”
Behold the many digits of Lei Yadi Min.
A one-year-old girl from China has set a new world record for having the most fingers and toes on any living person…
Continue reading… “Girl’s 26 Digits Breaks World Record for Most Fingers and Toes”
A Valentine’s Day To Remember.
That’s the advice offered by the Bronx Zoo in conjunction with their limited-time Valentine’s Day offer:
How better to express your appreciation for that special someone than to name a Madagascar hissing cockroach after them?
Continue reading… “For Valentine’s Day, Name a Roach After Your Loved One”
By delving into the futuring techniques of Futurist Thomas Frey, you’ll embark on an enlightening journey.
Learn More about this exciting program.