Supersized Squid Eyes Likely Evolved to See Whales

A giant squid’s soccer ball-sized eyeballs are three times wider than any other animal’s, but explaining why has kept squid researchers busy.

New dissections and computer models offer a lead in the mystery: The enormous peepers evolved to see bioluminescent trails of light left by sperm whales, the squids’ great predator.

Sperm whales can’t make sharp turns when diving for food. They have to rely on the prey being unaware it’s approaching, said biologist Dan-Eric Nilsson of Lund University. Nilsson’s study was published 15 March in Current Biology — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Thailand pet-owners on high alert for dog-nappers

Authorities in Thailand have warned that kennels are fit to bursting after more than 2,000 dogs bound for dinner tables in South East Asia were seized in the last six months.

Dog is considered a delicacy in parts of Vietnam and China, and strays and domestic pets are being snatched in increasing numbers from Thailand’s streets before they are transported abroad — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Andy Warhol’s Double Elvis artwork could sell for $50m

An Andy Warhol painting of singer Elvis Presley could fetch up to $50m (£31.7m) when sold in a New York auction in May.

Sotheby’s said Double Elvis epitomises the artist’s obsessions with fame, stardom, and the public image.

The life-size painting is one of 22 pieces Warhol dedicated to the singer, and will be shown in London, Los Angeles and Hong Kong before the sale.

Eight Elvises was sold for $100m (£63.5m) in a private sale in 2008.

The highest amount paid at auction for a Warhol was Green Car Crash, which went for $71.7m (£45.5m) in 2007 — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Google plans to penalise ‘overly optimised’ sites

Google is planning to penalise sites that overuse search-engine-optimisation techniques, according to a report.

Barry Schwartz over at Search Engine Land has posted an audio clip from a panel discussion at the recent South by Southwest confab, in which Google engineer Matt Cutts discusses the plans.

In search results, Google wants to level the playing field regarding all those people doing, for lack of a better word, over optimization or overly SEO — versus those making great content and great sites, Schwartz quotes Cutts as saying, in a rough transcription — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Scientists tout ‘open source’ drug discovery

Applying open source methodology to disease research could speed up the process of drug discovery, according to researchers at the University of Sydney.

Senior lecturer at the university’s School of Chemistry, Dr Matthew Todd, told Computerworld Australia that the current method of drug discovery is extremely competitive and mostly carried out behind closed doors to protect certain ideas and any commercial benefits down the track.

University of Sydney researchers are openly sharing their lab notes, primarily through a blog — The Synaptic Leap — as well as Twitter and Google+ and currently have around 15 contributors to a malaria project that is in pilot stages — via redwolf.newsvine.com

BSW / Blitz Motorcycles

Fred and Hugo of Blitz Motorcycles describe their latest creation as A gentleman’s bike for a gentleman rider. But it’s not a conservative, retro throwback. BSW is decidedly unconventional, like all of Blitz’s builds so far.

The motorcycle was built for an English customer called John, who lives in Paris. It’s a BMW R60/6, a 599cc airhead that was manufactured in the mid-70s. A strong, economical and relatively simple bike, it weighs just over 200 kg wet and is capable of more than 160 kph in stock form — via Bike EXIF

Roslyn Street Bar-Restaurante / Durbach Block Jaggers

5-9 Roslyn Street Potts Point [Durbach Block Jaggers] is a triangular shaped site, less than 200m2 in size. The rounded end looks directly onto a small public space. The shape of the site exaggerates perspective, the tiny footprint amplifies the perception of height. We wanted the building to sit easily in its place, to recognise the architectural traits of its neighbours — via ArchDaily

CS-1 Café Racer / Ryca Motors

For every hit custom build, there are ten misses. As most amateur builders know, it’s not easy to get the stance and the components just right. And costs can escalate surprisingly fast. That’s where the $2,795 CS-1 Café Racer kit from Los Angeles-based Ryca Motors comes in — via Bike EXIF

House In Souto / Nelson Resende

The presented house [Nelson Resende] is located in an irregular area, with a constant pendent, in a descendent way, from the street, East, to the opposite limit, Oest. The visual dispersion of the surroundings is increased by the existence of several and different scales, with a disparity of highs, distances and volumetries — via ArchDaily

Nazi looted poster art must be returned to Peter Sachs

A Jewish man has won his fight against a German museum for the return of thousands of rare posters stolen from his father by the Nazis in 1938.

Berlin’s Federal Court of Justice ruled Peter Sachs, who now lives in the US, is the rightful owner of the posters.

The judges said that not returning the posters would perpetuate Nazi injustice.

I can’t describe what this means to me on a personal level, Peter Sachs said — via BBC News

eco-PERCH / Blue Forest

UK-based Blue Forest makes inventive tree houses and recently introduced a new design concept called the eco-PERCH, which I think you’ll be interested in seeing.  The four-bed retreat can be delivered, assembled, and commissioned in about five days with things like photovoltaics, a composting toilet, and rainwater harvesting, etc — via Jetson Green

Kaspersky Lab spots malware signed with stolen digital certificate

Security firm Kaspersky Lab Thursday said it’s identified a malicious program that appears to make use of a compromised Symantec VeriSign digital certificate issued to Conpavi AG, which is known to work with Swiss government agencies. Kaspersky says it has asked Symantec VeriSign to revoke the compromised certificates.

Kaspersky says the malicious program contains what’s being called Trojan-Dropper.Win32.Mediyes. A dropper file is a type of malware commonly used by attackers to seed targeted computers in order to easily drop other malware into it in the future for a wide variety of purposes — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Forged Steel Squid Pendant / RobertDobbs

I have always been a bit of a science geek. Of late, that interest is beginning to influence my work. Of course, most of the inspiration for everything I build comes from nature but this section is dedicated solely to science and sciency things. I anticipate that, in my current frame of mind, this section will grow rapidly. Although it is difficult for me to translate Science into 3-D representations, I shall persevere — via Etsy

School bags ‘causing back pain’

Rucksacks loaded with school books have been linked to higher levels of back pain in a study of Spanish school children.

The findings, reported in Archives of Disease in Childhood, said many pupils had excessively loaded backpacks.

This was linked to higher levels of back pain in the 1,403 school children taking part in the study.

The research took place at Hospital da Costa in Burela and University Hospital Son Dureta in Palma.

The report’s authors said school children should not carry anything which weighs more than 10% of their body weight — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Le Coeur / StudioGreenBlue

This is an extension work of the patisserie Le Coeur. We [StudioGreenBlue] built a new building where we can use as both workshop and takeout shop beside head shop. The client requested to keep existing image and also wants to show the patisserie makes confectioneries to customers. And he wants to have sense of distance between patisserie and customers — via ArchDaily