Feb 05
Twitter has helped social change and fueled revolutions. Now it is helping scientists perform an informal census of mental dysfunction. Dr. Waldo Andersnatch from the University of Zurich says: “We have long known how hard it is to find and diagnose the many people suffering from a spectrum of mental disorders. Some of these sufferers are difficult …
Jan 15
Female tears of grief reduce arousal in men. And not just because of the smeared makeup. Apparently, lady tears smell icky. Just a slight whiff turns men off. According to the study’s director, Noam Sobel: “We know that women tend to cry more during menstruation, when it’s not an effective time to conceive.” So ladies, …
Nov 16
pic nicked from here It seems that we’ve found a variety of causes of obesity. Viruses, glands, and big bones. Just about everything is to blame except eating too much and not moving enough. You can add the FTO gene (nicknamed the greediness gene) to this ever-growing list of things that cause people surrounded by an …
Oct 31
pic nicked from here A functioning, mini-human liver has been grown in the lab by researchers at the Institute for Regenerative Medicine at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center. They say these manmade livers are meant to create donor organs, of which there is a shortage, and to test drugs on. Both worthy causes. But I hope …
Sep 19
For years, people have been attempting to make the fashion industry complicit in the rising rates of bulima and annorexia, blaming the thin models for the increase in eating disorders. And it would seem a likely culprit. But, according to a new study, the thinness of models has no impact on the eating habits of the viewer. …
Feb 01
Victims of Body Dysmorphic Disorder look in the mirror and see a monster looking back at them. And, when some women hear about BDD, they figure they have it. Why wouldn’t they? After all, they don’t look like the people they spend the most time with. That is, the people on television. Thinking you have …
Jul 21
You’ve probably heard of the placebo effect. It’s when scientists prescribe a sugar pill and that sugar pill works just as well as the real one. The reason for this has been pretty mysterious to say the least. But now researchers at UCLA have presented the first genetic explanation for why placebos sometimes work. The …
Apr 09
pic nicked from here Engineering researchers at the University of Waterloo claim to have created the world’s first flying microbot that can manipulate objects for microscale jobs. It can drag and drop the eensy-teensy, polka-dot bikinis that our fingers are too big and clumsy to deal with. It’s also magnetically levitated. Mir Behrad Khamesee, director …
Sep 16
To support its upcoming “Global Trends 2025″ The National Intelligence Center is funding a report by SRI Consulting to identify the most disruptive, upcoming civil or dual use technologies of the next 15 years. A preview of this report is available here as text and here as a 48 page PDF. This is the report …
Sep 13
In England, Robots have started dispensing drugs out of pharmacies. Their human counterparts in the US make 1.5 million errors per year. It is hoped that our metal friends, by using barcodes, can reduce both mistakes and waste. And, if it works in hospitals, it should work on the street. I’m sick of seeing human …
"This ultra-sharp, darkly satiric, hyper-speed novel is set in a world where multi-level mega malls serves as city states and everything on the outside lies in ruin. On the lower red levels, gang violence and media saturation and bio-tech designer drugs rule. During the weekend, slummers from the green levels leave their safe lives of jobs and families to partake in risky, sometimes deadly, fun on the red levels. And on every level, TV and advertisements literally penetrate the mind. Death is easy and life cheap, until that life is your own or your beloveds. Extreme stylization, great characters, and a high-level of intensity is maintained throughout. This is a whip-smart, truly violent novel that has at its core a still very human pulsing heart."
Piranha Plant sculpture by Jaime Margary
Veja o processo de criação da escultura:
Dude…