Bag the bomb

"RESEARCHERS at Sheffield University are working on a lightweight, bomb-proof bag that could make aircraft more secure. Hold luggage could be packed into one of the bags, which would help contain the blast if an item were to explode. Hard containers already exist to perform this job—El Al uses one per flight—but their weight militates against their widespread use." Read More

Atlanta Teacher Uses Angry Birds for Physics Lessons

"Addicted to playing Angry Birds? Maybe a better question might be, who isn't addicted to the game? And savvy science teachers are capitalizing on the Angry Birds phenomenon by using it to teach physics lessons." Read More

Star Shooting Intense Water Jets Into Space

"A star shooting water is almost an oxymoron.

But a young sun-like star seems to have been spotted 750 light-years from Earth doing just that, as researchers have apparently discovered, according to PopSci. Their findings indicate that the proto-star is shooting water from its poles at about 124,000 miles per hour.

Essentially, it's creating water bullets that it shoots deep into interstellar space, according to National Geographic. This star is no more than 100,000 years old, and is located in the northern constellation Perseus." Read More

The World's Most Typical Person...

"National Geographic recently sought to determine the characteristics of the most typical human being. Because the world's largest ethnic group is Han Chinese, males outnumber females, and the world's average age is 28, this person would have to fulfill all these qualifications. The magazine even took it a step further! Its researchers averaged the faces of 190,000 of the world's 9-million-plus 28-year-old Han Chinese men and came up with the photo shown above!" Read More

Exploding stars may shed light on mysterious dark energy

"The future of the cosmos is hidden within dark energy, the invisible substance that constitutes more than 70 percent of the universe.

A study released Thursday by the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics moves scientists closer to measuring and understanding the mechanics of dark energy and its impact on the expansion of the universe.

“Dark energy is the most profound problem in all of science,” said astrophysicist Michael Turner, a professor at the University of Chicago who was not involved in the study. “And it’s a very hard problem.”

The new study proposes a relatively simple method for enhancing the accuracy of dark energy observations by changing scientists’ understanding of supernovae, huge exploding stars that cast light across galaxies." Read More

Gender-bending Butterflies

"The evolutionary ecologist and lecturer at Yale started investigating why both males and females have eyespots. She and co-author Antonia Monteiro hypothesized that temperature could play a role in the development of the showy ornamentation. They tested this theory allowing one set of caterpillars to be reared at around 63 degrees Fahrenheit (mimicking the cool, dry season) and another set at around 81 degrees Fahrenheit (mimicking the warm, wet season).

'We didn’t expect to see a behavioral difference,' Prudic said. 'We knew there was a difference in wing morphology, but this was an unpredicted result.'

With this being the first species in which a change like this was observed, questions arise about what other behaviors could be modified based on developmental influences. Also the temperature-specific parameter begs the question about what could happen with climate change affecting organisms with developmental body features and behaviors based on environmental context." Read More

Life As A Fish

Happy 4/20!!!

"Researchers at McGill University in Montreal in 2007 reported in the Journal of Neuroscience that THC in low doses actually serves as an antidepressant…, producing serotonin. It has been known for many years that depletion of the neurotransmitter serotonin in the brain leads to depression, so SSRI-class anti-depressants like Prozac and Celexa work by enhancing the available concentration of serotonin in the brain. However, this study offered the first evidence that cannabis can also increase serotonin, at least at lower doses." Read More

Pt.1/2 Keep On Messing With Dark Energy And Dark Matter And See What Happens

shit that matters...

^yep. it was dope.


EXTRA
totally unrelated...

whats the answer to the ultimate question? 24.

but wait...what was the question? (loosely based "time travelers guide..." ref.)

Homophobes Are Gay

"The authors investigated the role of homosexual arousal in exclusively heterosexual men who admitted negative affect toward homosexual individuals. Participants consisted of a group of homophobic men (n = 35 ) and a group of nonhomophobic men (n = 29); they were assigned to groups on the basis of their scores on the Index of Homophobia (W. W. Hudson & W. A. Ricketts, 1980). The men were exposed to sexually explicit erotic stimuli consisting of heterosexual, male homosexual, and lesbian videotapes, and changes in penile circumference were monitored. They also completed an Aggression Questionnaire (A. H. Buss & M. Perry, 1992). Both groups exhibited increases in penile circumference to the heterosexual and female homosexual videos. Only the homophobic men showed an increase in penile erection to male homosexual stimuli. The groups did not differ in aggression. Homophobia is apparently associated with homosexual arousal that the homophobic individual is either unaware of or denies."

let the church say DUH!

to read more

Transformer!!!

it starts off slow but its worth it.

Transformer - Gnarls Barkley