This impossibly tiny, 100 square foot house contains tiny chairs, a tiny fireplace, and a tiny loft with a tiny window which serves as a tiny bedroom. But of course its owner couldn't help springing for the 15" MacBook. More »
 Reuters India | In Midterm Elections, Afghan War Barely Surfaces New York Times Mr. Stellander lost his job with a medical publishing company in June, and the only issue that really matters to him is the economy. ... Afghanistan: The End Is Near, and We've Been There BeforeHuffington Post (blog) |
Scientists are eyeing the future of solar technology–specifically, fly eyes. Turns out those bubbly-looking spectators might be just the ticket to more-efficient solar cells, researchers from Penn State University say.
Blowflies have peepers that would help solar panels collect light more efficiently, and creating these fly-eye molds was a feat in itself, according to Discovery News. After plucking the corneas from blowflies,
“The researchers took corneas, fixed them on a glass substrate, added a polymer to protect the shape and then coated nine-eye arrays in nickel within a vacuum chamber. The result was a master template that retained those useful nanoscale features. Ultimately that template can be used to replicate the pattern exactly.”
As they say, 30 eyes are better than one. Accordingly, the researchers next plan to create a template using 30 fly corneas.
Related content:
Discoblog: How Butterfly Wing Patterns Could Thwart Counterfeiting Crooks
Discoblog: Video: The Delicate Flutter of Robotic Butterfly Wings
Discoblog: A Fruit Fly With a Laser-Shaved Penis Just Can’t Catch a Break
Image: flickr / Thomas Shahan
This wind-powered cart breaks the rules of science because it's actually faster than the wind itself. When the wind was only blowing at 20mph, the cart managed to hit speeds of 50mph. Here's how it works. More »
One of my customers has given my company an interesting project this year. It's a rather simple, create a multiple station test loop to do destructive testing by inducing impact damage.
The mechanical engineers have designed a sled that is accelerated up to a given speed. Once at speed the sl
Good news for EVO 4G owners! Sprint will begin rolling out Android 2.2 to the lucky EVO users starting August 3: More »
NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration released its new “State of the Climate 2009” report on July 28. This report should remove any remaining doubt that climate change is happening now, continues to happen, and that human activity is the cause of it. It describes 10 indicators as proof. The report is free and anyone can download it. (Click the link above). From NOAA:
The 2009 State of the Climate report … draws on data for 10 key climate indicators that all point to the same finding: the scientific evidence that our world is warming is unmistakable. More than 300 scientists from 160 research groups in 48 countries contributed to the report, which confirms that the past decade was the warmest on record and that the Earth has been growing warmer over the last 50 years.
Graphic provided by NOAA
Based on comprehensive data from multiple sources, the report defines 10 measurable planet-wide features used to gauge global temperature changes. The relative movement of each of these indicators proves consistent with a warming world. Seven indicators are rising: air temperature over land, sea-surface temperature, air temperature over oceans, sea level, ocean heat, humidity and tropospheric temperature in the “active-weather” layer of the atmosphere closest to the Earth’s surface. Three indicators are declining: Arctic sea ice, glaciers and spring snow cover in the Northern hemisphere.
“For the first time, and in a single compelling comparison, the analysis brings together multiple observational records from the top of the atmosphere to the depths of the ocean,” said Jane Lubchenco, Ph.D., under secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator. “The records come from many institutions worldwide. They use data collected from diverse sources, including satellites, weather balloons, weather stations, ships, buoys and field surveys. These independently produced lines of evidence all point to the same conclusion: our planet is warming,”
The report emphasizes that human society has developed for thousands of years under one climatic state, and now a new set of climatic conditions are taking shape. These conditions are consistently warmer, and some areas are likely to see more extreme events like severe drought, torrential rain and violent storms.
“Despite the variability caused by short-term changes, the analysis conducted for this report illustrates why we are so confident the world is warming,” said Peter Stott, Ph.D., contributor to the report and head of Climate Monitoring and Attribution of the United Kingdom Met Office Hadley Centre. “When we look at air temperature and other indicators of climate, we see highs and lows in the data from year [...]
Space Center future will be bright - eventually, its director says, Orlando Sentinel
"I see a great future for KSC," center director Robert Cabana told several hundred community boosters, elected officials, union members and industry executives gathered at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex for the annual "Community Leaders Briefing." But short-term challenges - including mass layoffs - are looming, he added. Unlike previous briefings, this year's gathering resembled a pep rally for a high school football team after a losing season rather than the traditional "state of Kennedy Space Center" update."
Commercial Space Advocates Rally To Stall NASA Authorization Bill, SpaceNews
"House sources said July 28 that a floor vote on the NASA authorization could come as early as July 29, but opponents of the bill -- primarily commercial space advocates -- were successful in stalling the measure, which now is unlikely to be considered before July 30, sources said. Gordon is seeking to bring the measure to the House floor under suspension of the rules, a procedural tactic that prevents amendments to a bill during limited floor debate and which requires a two-thirds majority vote to pass."
Showdown over space policy, MSNBC
"H.R. 5781, the House's version of the $19 billion NASA authorization bill for fiscal 2011, lops off most of $6 billion being sought by the Obama administration for boosting the development of commercial spaceships capable of bringing astronauts to the International Space Station over the next five years. Instead, it would put more money into the internal NASA rocket development program - although not as much as previously budgeted under a plan that an independent panel said was "not viable."
Competing NASA bills on collision course in Congress, SpaceflightNow
"The House bill only calls for $150 million in direct funding for commercial crew projects through 2013. NASA would provide another $100 million per year under the pending legislation, summing an investment of $450 million spread over three years. Those figures are significantly lower than the budget proposed in the Senate's authorization act and the Senate's spending bill, which offer $1.3 billion in commercial crew funding over the same time period."
Maybe it is because I'm a sucker for old school 90s graphic adventures, but I love these just for what they are: Beautiful 8-bit cycling animations made using HTML5. They're so good that someone should write a game around them. More »
![Click here to read Google Now "Fully Blocked" In China [UPDATE: It Was A Status Error]](http://euvolution.com/futurist-transhuman-news-blog/wp-content/plugins/wp-o-matic/cache/c12d5_160x120_500x_media_http9gagcomphot_nrjpc.jpg.scaled500.jpg)
Google, the brave search engine company who refused to censor search results in China, seems to be finding itself entirely unwelcome in the country: Apparently Google is now fully blocked in China. Update: False alarm due to a Google issue. More »
 RTE.ie | Calcium supplements may boost heart attack risk CNN ... says John Baron, MD a professor of medicine at Dartmouth Medical School, in Lebanon, New Hampshire, and a co-author of the study. ... Risk of MI May Go Up With Calcium SupplementsMedPage Today Calcium linked to higher risk of heart attacksThe Guardian Calcium Supplements Linked to Boost in Heart Attack RiskMSN Health & Fitness WebMD.Boots.com -TheMedGuru all 145 news articles » |
Prof. Stephen Schneider, one of the truly important voices in climate science, has died. For over three decades, he had been researching and speaking out on the need to sharply and quickly reduce greenhouse gas emissions. He died of an apparent heart attack Monday (July 19) while flying from a scientific meeting in Stockholm, Sweden, to London. His website can be found here.
Schneider was influential in the public debate over climate change and a lead scientist on the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with former Vice President Al Gore.
Schneider was a lead author of the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The panel shared a Nobel Peace Prize with former U.S. Vice President Al Gore. He and his wife Terry Root, won the 2003 National Conservation Achievement Award from the National Wildlife Federation. Schneider had been a consultant on climate change to the White House under the last seven presidents.
In recent writings, speeches and interviews, Schneider acknowledged the fierceness of the debate over climate change and environmental policies. He recently had become a vocal advocate for scientists becoming more assertive in voicing their conclusions in a ways that would be clear to the public and political and governmental leaders worldwide.
The title of his last book encapsulated the struggle over climate change: “Science as a Contact Sport: Inside the Battle to Save Earth’s Climate.”
More information about Stephen Schneider here. From his last book, he wrote:
“The world is changing. Before our very eyes, we can see the effects of climate change and environmental damage taking shape: shrinking glaciers, both water shortages and excesses, high temperature extremes, hazardous air conditions, and erratic weather patterns leading not only to immense property damage but also to untold human suffering and death—with worse to come if we stay on current path. We know there’s a problem, but spurring the world to action has been a decades-long struggle, and Stephen H. Schneider has been in the front lines [...]
Though Thor is the story of a god who crushes his enemies with a magical hammer, Kenneth Branagh’s Thor movie is set in a scientific universe. Or so it seemed from footage we saw this weekend, especially of Destroyer.
Branagh, whose previous films include Frankenstein and Dead Again, is known for over-the-top theatricality and an emphasis on acting in his films. The 3D Thor is no exception, especially since the director says he loved Thor growing up and has even worked to include different versions of the first Avenger in his film. Though the hero’s iconic hammer is pure Jack Kirby, Branagh assured the audience that “there are some Donald Blake touches” too.
Natalie Portman plays Jane Foster, a minor character in the comics who has a very large role in the movie. She called her character a rare “real, frazzled, grounded female scientist – not the low-cut lab coat and sexy glasses kind of thing.” She added that she was happy to get back in front of a green screen with an actor-oriented director like Branagh, because “working with green screens is a skill – it should be something you learn in acting school.”
Chris Hemsworth is the perfect physical type to play the god of thunder, and when we saw the sizzle reel from the film, I was immediately sold on Hemsworth as much more than just a pretty boy who looks good shirtless. We saw him in both action scenes and in tense, intimate moments – and he burned up the screen. Especially when he finds the hammer hidden at the heart of a secret New Mexico military installation and lets out a mega-shout to heaven.
His damaged younger brother Loki is played by Tom Hiddleston, the god of mischief who turns into a major badass who wears black fetishwear and big horns on his head. Hiddleston says Loki’s main issue is that “he was the guy who was almost the guy, but wasn’t.”
Before we get into the footage, let me say that the 3D was good. It didn’t feel intrusive, but at the same time we got a lot of fun squirts of fire aimed out into the audience – plus, of course, some hammer throwing. And the 3D made the sets really pop, giving the whole flick some texture. I’m usually the first to grouse about the overuse of 3D but I think Thor earned it.
So what was so sciencey about the footage we saw? First of all, the emphasis was on the secret industrial-science facility where Thor is being held by clueless fed types for part of the movie. Plus, when Thor is hurled to Earth by Odin, who casts the young god out for his arrogance and penchant for war, we see a shot that looks remarkably like something out of a scifi movie. We zoom toward the galaxy from a great height, as if Thor’s home Asgard is in another galaxy rather than being some kind of god dimension. Also, Asgard itself looks more like one of those really gorgeous Alderaan-style planets from Star Wars rather than heaven.
Jane is the person who finds Thor when he crashes to Earth, so Thor is immediately treated like a scientifically-discoverable thing rather than a mystical presence. (There’s also a nice moment of quippery where Jane tells her sidekick that “for a homeless guy, he’s pretty cut.”) And we hear him explaining to Jane that he comes from a place where “magic” and “science” are indistinguishable. This does nothing to quench our feeling that this is a scientific universe – it’s just that the Asgardians have science that’s advanced enough to be indistinguishable from magic.
So I know what you want to know: What about the hammer fighting? Was it awesome? Hell yes. Like I said earlier, there’s a great moment when Thor finds the hammer Mjolnir, pulls it from a pile of muddy rock, and lets out a cosmic yelp. Then we see him fighting a variety of enemies, including brother Loki and his fetishwear-clad Asgardian corps, who have taken over Asgard after the death of Odin. He does a good hammer throw, and the hammer manages to look both cartoonish and kickass at the same time.
We also got a glimpse of Hemsworth doing the steely eye when he’s being interrogated by a fed at the secret facility, who accuses him of being a highly-trained mercenary. I like the look of our mercenaryesque god in that scene: Human, but with a glint of godhood in his eyes.
The other ultra-awesome part of the sizzle reel was meeting Destroyer, who looked like a medieval version of Gort from the original Day The Earth Stood Still. He stands a few heads taller than a human, and when he arrives the Feds mistake him for “unauthorized military technology” and ask him to stand down in bored tones. Then he opens all the layered vents on his suit and his face plates open to reveal – emptiness, shortly filled with a surge of fire. Again, it feels Gort-like, but also terrifically old school, as if he has a dragon breath weapon.
I was left feeling like this film would be a pleasure to watch, full of awe-inspiring visual flourishes, great acting, mega-battles, and funny, tight dialogue. A perfect superhero treat.
This post originally appeared on io9.
io9. Escape to the world of tomorrow.
“Oral malodor (halitosis or bad breath) might be an important motivation tool for improving oral health in adolescents. There are few studies that report the epidemiology of oral malodor in high school students and the relationships with lifestyle and oral health status. This research was conducted to obtain underlying data for introducing an oral health education program which targeted prevention of oral malodor as a motivation tool for changing oral health behavior in high school students. METHODS: A questionnaire, school oral examination, and oral malodor measurement were conducted on senior high school students in a Tokyo metropolitan school in 2007. A total of 474 students (male: 219, female: 255) were used for the analysis. RESULTS: Over 42% of subjects reported that they had experienced anxiety, or were conscious of oral malodor, on at least 1 occasion. The students who had detectable oral malodor comprised 39.6% of subjects. The binary logistic regression analyses showed that whether or not subjects ate breakfast before the oral examination (p < .05), the presence of plaque (p < .01), and presence of a substantive tongue coating (p < .01) were related to the presence of detectable oral malodor. CONCLUSIONS: Cleaning the oral cavity and eating breakfast are important to prevent oral malodor in high school students. This study indicated that school health education incorporating prevention of oral malodor as a motivation tool for oral health promotion could be a valuable procedure to include in high school dental health education programs.”
Bonus quote from the Materials and Methods: “The organoleptic test method described by Rosenberg was used in this study. This method requires the subject to sit behind a privacy screen and expire air through a paper tube placed through a hole in the screen. The examiner smells the expired air from the other side of the screen and evaluates the odor produced… Oral malodor was recorded as: 0 = Absence of odor; 1 = Questionable malodor; 2 = Slight; 3 = Moderate; 4 = Strong; and 5 = Severe.”
Photo: flickr/Kitt Walker
Related content:
Discoblog: NCBI ROFL: This biological weapon stinks.
Discoblog: NCBI ROFL: But do vegetarians taste better?
Discoblog: NCBI ROFL: Are you having a seizure? Quick, smell my shoe!
WTF is NCBI ROFL? Read our FAQ!
al.com (blog) | University of Alabama at Birmingham hires new medical school dean from within al.com (blog) View full sizeUABRay Watts, new dean of the medical school at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Ray Watts, the president of the UA Health Services ... Ray L. Watts named senior VP, dean of the School of Medicine at UABUAB News UAB clinical trial looking at diabetes/gum disease connectionUAB News |
You can already manage your Comcast DVR from your iPhone, but soon you'll be able to do the same with BlackBerry and Android as well. No date announced, but it's coming. [Comcast] More »
Is WikiLeaks More Than Just a High-Tech Brown Envelope? Yes GigaOm (blog) And WikiLeaks has in mind its own kind of plug-in: an embeddable disclosure and upload form that would allow newspapers to solicit secret documents and then ... |
Dear Members and guests
As some of you might know in my spare time I paint and have done so for decades. Recently I published a few of my works in Private CR4 Mails and have received some encouraging feed back.
I became an online member of http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/ky-wil
Former doctor from Framingham sentenced in rape case Boston Globe Raagas was an associate clinical professor of radiology at the school. A spokeswoman for Boston Medical Center and the medical school said Raagas was a ... |
