Tuesday, July 17, 2012
See you around the corner
Light trick to see around corners
Researchers unveil a simple new means to see through
"scattering" materials such as frosted glass, or even see around
corners.
Is Wobbling Worrisome?
Gait Changes May Be an Early Sign of Dementia
Slow on your feet? This could be the first sign of memory loss to
come. Three new studies presented Sunday at the Alzheimer's Association
International Conference in Vancouver, Canada, finds that changes in
walking patterns of the elderly are closely linked to memory loss and
may actually be an early clue to dementia.
The End of Cavities?
A
team of scientists led by José Córdoba from Yale University and Erich
Astudillo from the University of Chile have developed a chemical that
can kill all the cavity-causing bacteria in a person’s mouth -in only 60
seconds! They call it Keep 32, because using it may let you keep all 32
of your teeth for a lifetime.If Keep 32 is as successful in testing as it is in the lab, it’s likely that the chemical would be added to toothpaste, mouthwash, and other oral hygiene products, especially if researchers sell their patent to one of the major pharmaceutical companies. However, Astudillo isn’t limiting his product to the dental world. He also hopes to license the chemical to candy companies like Hershey’s or Cadbury. Keep 32 could be added to sticky sweets, meaning that consumers would no longer need to be concerned that a package of saltwater taffy or caramel would cause tooth decay. Parents will have to come up with a different excuse to prevent their children from eating copious amounts of Laffy Taffy.After seven years of research, Keep 32 is ready for human trials, if the researchers can get the funding.
Thriving Gut Bacteria Linked To Good Health
There's no magic elixir for healthy aging, but here's one more thing to add to the list: good gut health.Produce safety testing program is spared budget ax
The Agriculture Department is extending the life of the nation's main
produce-safety testing program, just as the initiative was slated to be
shut down.
Trans fat ban made fast food a bit healthier in NY
Kentucky Fried Chicken
employee uses tongs to hold up an sample of the company's trans fat-free
Extra Crispy fried chicken in New York.
Voodoo Doughnut Bacon Maple Ale
Eight Stunning One-Color Towns Around The World
But, are there any towns that are painted in only one color? Of course there are, but they are very rare. This list deals with these unusual tourist destinations - one-color towns.
Photo of Mount Rainier's snow monster!
Caught on camera! The horrific snow monster of Mount Rainier Creek! Photo by Gisela Taranovski via National Geographic.
Squid Chromatophores
Chromatophores are pigment-rich, light-reflecting cells found in amphibians, fish, reptiles and cephalopods, such as squid. The cells dictate eye and skin color and, in some species, allow the bearer to adopt a color-changing camouflage when stimulated by heat, stress and other factors — a process known as metachrosis. The camouflage is also used in communication.Marine biologist Michael Bok took advantage of a squid with skin cells still active despite being shipped on ice, to make this video. More
Squid rapidly change color when the muscles surrounding a chromatophore-filled sac contracts and expands — when it contracts, the pigment appears denser, when it expands the color becomes muted and disappears. The squid changes its color according to exterior factors — such as a threat or the presence of a potential mate – because each chromatophore is linked to a nerve ending.
Pot Farmers Killing Rare Wildlife
- Rat poison is killing fishers, a rare carnivore, in some of the most remote forests of California—and pot growers are probably to blame. Read more
Wild Snow Leopard Mother and Cubs
There
are only a few thousand snow leopards left in the wild, and they are
extremely reclusive, living in the mountains and hunting only at dawn
and dusk. Now, for the first time time, we have video footage of a snow
leopard mother and cubs in their natural habitat. A team of researchers
from the Snow Leopard Trust and Panthera
found the den by attaching GPS units to snow leopards four years ago.
Imagine that job! The leopards’ movements clued them in that it was time
to give birth, high in the Tost Mountains of Mongolia.“As we stood outside the den we could hear the cub and smell the cats but not see anything inside the den,” said Panthera scientist Orjan Johansson. He and colleagues acted quickly, taping a camera to their antenna pole and extending it over the ledge blocking the den entrance. The footage captured shows a female leopard looking up at the camera, keeping a protective paw over her cub.See two short videos at Surprising Science.
At the second den—a narrow crack in a cliff wall—the scientists discovered that the mother was away hunting, leaving her two male cubs unattended, seen below. “This was an unprecedented opportunity,” said Rutherford. “We wanted to be as careful as possible and only take the most pressing data.” The team quickly weighed, measured, photographed and collected hair samples from the cubs, which allowed genetic testing that confirmed sex and other information. More pictures of the cubs are available at Panthera’s photo gallery.
Shark!
Look Out for the Shark!
While out fishing one rainy day this group of people had the shock of their life. Read more
Sharks Now More Likely to Attack Humans?
Surfer Ben Linden became Western Australia's fifth shark attack fatality in just 10 months, and experts are asking if sharks are more commonly associating people with food. Read more
Monday, July 16, 2012
The Daily Drift
Great things often start as harebrained ideas.
Some of our readers today have been in:
Bayan Lepas, Malaysia
Cape Town, South Africa
Angeles City, Philippines
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Jerudong, Brunei
Instanbul, Turkey
Dhaka, Bangladesh
Islamabad, Pakistan
Diliman, Philippines
Johannesburg, South Africa
Auckland, New Zealand
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