A small fuel cell containing brewer's yeast generates electricity from the glucose found in blood – it could one day be used to power medical implants.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
What would it look like to fall into a black hole?
Here is a video simulates what you might see on your way towards a black hole's crushing central singularity.
Follow the link to the video.
What would it look like to fall into a black hole?
Rainforests may pump winds worldwide
Without forests to pump moisture around the planet, would the continents turn to desert?
A new theory suggests they might.
Rainforests may pump winds worldwide
Thriving on the Edge of Chaos
Operating in a state that is neither ordered nor random may help drive our brain's astonishing capabilities.
The five ages of the brain
Speaking of brains ...
Throughout our lives our brains undergo many changes, which can be broadly divided into five stages.
How can we get the best out of our brains at every stage?
The five ages of the brain
Magnetic Dreams
Looking for an explanation for weird dreams?
New research suggests you can blame the Earth's magnetic field, not a repressed childhood.
New research suggests you can blame the Earth's magnetic field, not a repressed childhood.
'Supersize' lions roamed Britain
From BBC-Science:
It is thought the ancient lions would not have had manes
Giant lions were roaming around Britain, Europe and North America up to 13,000 years ago, scientists from Oxford University have found.
Remains of giant cats previously discovered were thought to be a species of jaguar or tiger but after DNA analysis they were proved to be lions.
They were 25% bigger than the species of African lion living today, and had longer legs to chase their prey.
They would have lived in icy tundra with mammoth and sabretooth tigers.
It is thought these animals would hunt over longer distances, and their longer legs would help them chase down their prey as opposed to the modern-day species which tends to ambush its victims.
Read the rest here.
Dark Matter
From BBC-Science:
Streams of positron particles detected by a satellite could have been produced by dark matter, say researchers.
Streams of positron particles detected by a satellite could have been produced by dark matter, say researchers.
World's tiniest frogs
This is likely the smallest frog species in the world, discovered in the Andes Mountains' upper Cosnipata Valley in Peru.From National Geographic:
"The most distinctive character of the new species," scientists write in the February issue of the journal Copeia, "is its diminutive size." Females grow to 0.49 inch (12.4 millimeters) at most. Males make it to only 0.44 inch (11.1 millimeters).
What's most surprising is that the frog lives at such high elevations, said study co-author Alessandro Catenazzi, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California, Berkeley. In general, larger animals are found at greater heights.
Makes you wonder
"MTV is putting actual music videos back on their network.
If it works, Fox News is going back to actual news again."
~ Craig Ferguson
If it works, Fox News is going back to actual news again."
~ Craig Ferguson
Something the repugicans don't want you to know
"More than 80% of Americans think Obama will do a good job representing their country to the world."
~ CNN poll
Resonant voices may turn on plants
Man charged with drunken driving on bar stool
Authorities in Ohio say a man has been charged with drunken driving after crashing his motorized bar stool.
Woman accused of driving 103 with grandson in car
Authorities arrested a woman accused of driving 103 mph with her 10-year-old grandson in the car.
Man upset over taxes charged for 'drive-by' remark
From the "You ought not have said that" Department:
No matter how frustrating taxes get, it's not a good idea to threaten to do a drive-by shooting at the Department of Revenue.
Man gets 295 days in jail in bleach assault
A judge sentenced a Nebraska man to 295 days in jail on Monday for pouring bleach on a woman during an argument last year.
Man cuts his own throat from the inside
How cities should deal with squatters
From Slate:
How cities should deal with squatters
On the supply side, local governments should penalize owners who stockpile vacant housing, perhaps by imposing increased property tax rates on properties left vacant, and by moving aggressively to seize vacant properties when the owners fall behind on paying those taxes. On the demand side, governments should expand homesteading programs that permit and help low-income people to take over vacant housing—but only after it finds its way into city hands.
To be sure, these programs were only marginally successful in the 1970s, in part because of lack of funding, but also because of the difficulty of restoring abandoned urban properties to habitable condition. The housing that is becoming vacant during the current downturn, by contrast, is relatively new and should be easier for homesteaders to repair. The federal government should also move quickly to protect those in financial trouble from foreclosure and eviction by requiring foreclosing banks (many of which are themselves receiving taxpayer bailouts) to rent out foreclosed homes to their former owners at fair market value. In fact, as this letter to the editor in the New York Times Magazine on Sunday correctly observed, allowing owners to remain as renters in their foreclosed homes helps safeguard the value of the houses—which is good for the occupants, good for the banks, and good for the housing market as a whole.
The sudden increase in squatting shows that the housing market that is out of kilter. The solution is not to chase squatters off, but to bring the market back into balance by helping them find a place to call home.
Back to the Wild
Parts of Flint, Michigan to go feral?
Property abandonment is getting so bad in Flint that some in government are talking about an extreme measure that was once unthinkable — shutting down portions of the city, officially abandoning them and cutting off police and fire service.
Temporary Mayor Michael Brown made the off-the-cuff suggestion Friday in response to a question at a Rotary Club of Flint luncheon about the thousands of empty houses in Flint.
Brown said that as more people abandon homes, eating away at the city’s tax base and creating more blight, the city might need to examine “shutting down quadrants of the city where we (wouldn’t) provide services.” [...]
City Council President Jim Ananich said the idea has been on his radar for years.
The city is getting smaller and should downsize its services accordingly by asking people to leave sparsely populated areas, he said.
Venice To Get Half Its Electricity From Algae By 2011
This could be very interesting:
The city of Venice hopes to get at least 50 per cent of electricity from renewable sources by the year 2011. It plans to use algae to generate electricity.
Venice, known as the City of Bridges, plans to end its reliance on fossil fuels in the near future by primarily using biofuels.As a first step the city officials have invested €200 million ($264 million) for a biofuels plant. They will use two types of algae, Sargassum muticum and Undaria pinnafitida. They will cultivate them in laboratories, which will then be used to generate electricity in a new 40 MW power plant. This plant will provide up to 50 per cent of the city’s electricity needs.
Ant slaves' murderous rebellions
Last month's journal Evolution, has a captivating tale of slave rebellion among ants kidnapped by other ant species and forced to work for the rival colony:
When these youngsters mature, they take on the odour of their abductors and become the servants of the enslaving queen. They take over the jobs of maintaining the colony and caring for its larvae even though they are from another species; they even take part in raids themselves. But like all slave-traders, P.americanus faces rebellions.
Some of its victims (ants from the genus Temnothorax) strike back with murderous larvae. Alexandra Achenbach and Susanne Foitzik from Ludwig Maximillians Universty in Munich found that some of the kidnapped workers don't bow to the whims of their new queen. Once they have matured, they start killing the pupae of their captors, destroying as many as two-thirds of the colony's brood...
Two-thirds of pupae died before they hatched. The mortality rate was even higher (83%) for pupae containing queens, but very low (3%) for those containing males. The duo saw that the captives were deliberately killing the healthy pupae. In about 30% of cases, as in the photo, the workers would gang up to literally pull the developing ants apart. Another 53% of the pupae were killed by neglect, by workers who moved them out of the nest chamber.
These murders were solely the acts of the slaves. No P.americanus worker ever lifted a mandible against its own pupae. Nor are the deaths a reflection of a generally poor standard of care on the part of Temnothorax. In their own colonies, the majority of pupae hatched, with just 3-10% dying before that happened.
FIRST EVIDENCE FOR SLAVE REBELLION: ENSLAVED ANT WORKERS SYSTEMATICALLY KILL THE BROOD OF THEIR SOCIAL PARASITE PROTOMOGNATHUS AMERICANUS
(Ok, so the second one is science paper - deal with it)
(Ok, so the second one is science paper - deal with it)
Readers Comments
Received this wonderfully nice comment about this blog and her sister blog via a separate forum I use.
"I still check your blog on a daily basis, it (they) are my favorites. You have style, intelligence and wit, just what I need in these troubling times."
Thanks.
Who knew, I have style, intelligence and wit, gosh.
"I still check your blog on a daily basis, it (they) are my favorites. You have style, intelligence and wit, just what I need in these troubling times."
Thanks.
Who knew, I have style, intelligence and wit, gosh.
Birth Defects Tied to Season of Conception
Spring and early summer is the nation's season of risk for conceiving a child with birth defects, a new study finds.
The hidden face of Egyptian queen
Researchers find a second stone face of Nefertiti behind the famous 3,000-year-old stucco bust.
Scan reveals hidden face of Egyptian queen
You might want to check out the following:
When did April Fool's day begin?
If you are the victim of a practical joke today, blame the ancient Scots, Romans, and French.
When did April Fool's day begin?
Local paper joins ranks of those to call it quits
Officials with The Lake Norman Times say the slow advertising market is forcing them to stop the presses in April.
The staff was informed of the decision last week.
The publisher says the last edition will be printed on April 15.
The staff was informed of the decision last week.
The publisher says the last edition will be printed on April 15.
*****
Damn, there goes the local news!
We still have the Herald, but for how long?
Job losses keep mounting
In more fallout from the disaster that was the shrub/cabal junta and their total fucking over of the entire world's economy:
Job losses in the U.S. private sector accelerated in March, more than economists' expectations, according to a report by ADP Employer Services on Wednesday.
Job losses in the U.S. private sector accelerated in March, more than economists' expectations, according to a report by ADP Employer Services on Wednesday.
Private employers cut jobs by a record 742,000 in March versus a 706,000 revised cut in February that was originally reported at 697,000 jobs, said ADP, which has been carrying out the survey since 2001.
The big drop foreshadows a huge decline in the non-farm payroll reading in the government's employment report that will be released on Friday, some analysts said.
"It's a terrible number. It is almost a loss of three quarters of a million jobs which is possibly the highest we have seen so far over the length of this crisis," said Matt Esteve, foreign exchange trader with Tempus Consulting in Washington.
U.S. stock futures and the dollar fell after news of the bigger-than-expected job losses, while U.S. Treasury bonds regained some of their lost ground.
Economists had expected 655,000 private-sector job cuts in March in the ADP report, according to a recent Reuters poll.
G-20 protesters break into Royal Bank of Scotland
Police control protesters outside the Bank of England, during the G20 protests in the center of London.
G-20 protesters clashed with riot police in downtown London on Wednesday, breaking into the heavily guarded Royal Bank of Scotland and smashing its windows. Earlier, they tried to storm the Bank of England and pelted police with eggs and fruit.
At least 4,000 anarchists, anti-capitalists, environmentalists and others jammed into London's financial district for what they called "Financial Fool's Day." The protests were called ahead of Thursday's summit of world leaders, who hope to take concrete steps to resolve the global financial crisis that has lashed nations and workers worldwide.
Read the rest here.
Leave the Scots bank alone, the English one, well ..
Irrawaddy dolphins found in waters of South Asia
From LiveScience:
A huge population of rare dolphins threatened by climate change and fishing nets has been discovered in South Asia.
Researchers with the Wildlife Conservation Society estimate that nearly 6,000 Irrawaddy dolphins, marine mammals that are related to orcas or killer whales, were found living in freshwater regions of Bangladesh's Sundarbans mangrove forest and adjacent waters of the Bay of Bengal.
There has been hardly any marine mammal research done in this area up to this point.
Each discovery of Irrawaddy dolphins is important because scientists do not know how many remain on the planet. Prior to this study, the largest known populations of Irrawaddy dolphins numbered in the low hundreds or less.
In 2008, they were listed as vulnerable in the IUCN Red List based on population declines in known dolphin populations.
A huge population of rare dolphins threatened by climate change and fishing nets has been discovered in South Asia.
Researchers with the Wildlife Conservation Society estimate that nearly 6,000 Irrawaddy dolphins, marine mammals that are related to orcas or killer whales, were found living in freshwater regions of Bangladesh's Sundarbans mangrove forest and adjacent waters of the Bay of Bengal.
There has been hardly any marine mammal research done in this area up to this point.
Each discovery of Irrawaddy dolphins is important because scientists do not know how many remain on the planet. Prior to this study, the largest known populations of Irrawaddy dolphins numbered in the low hundreds or less.
In 2008, they were listed as vulnerable in the IUCN Red List based on population declines in known dolphin populations.
Read the rest: 6,000 rare Irrawaddy dolphins found in waters of South Asia.
Unusual Holidays and Celebrations
Today is April 1, 2009 so you know it is All Fools Day (aka April Fools Day), but are you aware it is also: National Fun Day and National Fun At Work Day, Saint Stupid Day, Sorry Charlie Day as well as Poetry and Creative Mind Day and the National Day of Hope.
Let's not be overwhelmed by all the celebrating on this the first day of April because April is: Celebrate Diversity Month, Child Abuse Prevention Month, Couple Appreciation Month, International TWIT Award Month, National Humor Month, National Poetry Month, and National Pecan Month.
That's a lot of celebrating going on!
Just remember April starts off with Pooper-Scooper Week and Testicular Cancer Awareness Week from the 1st to the 7th.
So let the celebrating begin!
Let's not be overwhelmed by all the celebrating on this the first day of April because April is: Celebrate Diversity Month, Child Abuse Prevention Month, Couple Appreciation Month, International TWIT Award Month, National Humor Month, National Poetry Month, and National Pecan Month.
That's a lot of celebrating going on!
Just remember April starts off with Pooper-Scooper Week and Testicular Cancer Awareness Week from the 1st to the 7th.
So let the celebrating begin!
Our Readers
Some of our readers today have been in:
Gatineau, Quebec, Canada
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Paris, Ile-De-France, France
Delft, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands
Milton Keynes, England, United Kingdom
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Chandigrah, Chandigrah, India
Beijing, Beijing, China
Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom
Muscat, Masqat, Oman
Maidstone, England, United Kingdom
Gampaha, Gampaha, Sri Lanka
Yekaterinburg, Sverdlovsk, Russian Federation
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
Vienna, Wien, Austria
Bombay, Maharashtra, India
as well as all fifty states of the United States
Gatineau, Quebec, Canada
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Paris, Ile-De-France, France
Delft, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands
Milton Keynes, England, United Kingdom
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Chandigrah, Chandigrah, India
Beijing, Beijing, China
Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom
Muscat, Masqat, Oman
Maidstone, England, United Kingdom
Gampaha, Gampaha, Sri Lanka
Yekaterinburg, Sverdlovsk, Russian Federation
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
Vienna, Wien, Austria
Bombay, Maharashtra, India
as well as all fifty states of the United States
Daily Horoscope
Today's horoscope says:
Having a healthy sense of confidence is wonderful.
Aw shucks.(blushing)
Having a healthy sense of confidence is wonderful.
Aw shucks.(blushing)
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