Vincent Eaton’s tale of his encounter with a tapeworm is both amusing and educating. It comes complete with luscious illustrations from Chris Bishop.
For some, everything that occurs at the toilet bowl requires denying. After voiding their bowels, they scamper to a corner, kneel and pray. Then there’s the type that actually bends down to study the stuff like tea leaves. Then there’s me.
Howard always was a corrupt, lying little bastard, so it’s no surprise that he’s axed dedicated government funding for solar research and lobbed some money the way of big business by supporting a Cooperative Research Centre for coal
Technology to grow replacement teeth could mean the end of dentures. Scientists at King’s College London have been awarded £500,000 to help them develop human teeth from stem cells. The company Odontis, set up by the college, hopes to develop its research for tests on humans within two years after successful research on mice. Stem cells, the so-called master cells, would be programmed to develop into teeth and then transplanted into the patient’s jaw where the gap is. It is thought it would then take two months for the tooth to fully develop — via Die Puny Humans
Misbehaving dogs are soothed by a chemical scent that evokes their puppyhood, according to new research. The chemicals could help relax dogs living in stressful environments such as animal shelters or working for the military. Researchers in Scotland conducted the largest-ever study on the effects of dog-appeasing pheromone
(DAP) on dogs in an animal shelter. DAP is a synthetic chemical that appears to mimic those secreted by lactating bitches three days after birth to create a comforting setting for puppies
A truly extraordinary cure for some forms of blindness is being proposed. The idea is to add light-absorbing pigments from spinach to nerve cells in the retina, to make the nerve cells fire when struck by light. Eli Greenbaum’s team at the Oak Ridge National Laboratories in Tennessee has been exploring this possibility for several years. In their latest experiments, the researchers have shown that adding plant pigments to human cells makes the cells respond to light
A system that projects light beams directly into the eye could change the way we see the world. US firm Microvision has developed a system that projects lasers onto the retina, allowing users to view images on top of their normal field of vision. It could allow surgeons to get a bird’s eye view of the innards of a patient, offer military units in the field a view of the entire battlefield and provide mechanics with a simulation of the inside of a car’s engine — via Die Puny Humans
The US Army Research Laboratory has developed a new liquid body armour. According to Dr Eric Wetzel, the project coordinator: The key component of liquid armour is a shear thickening fluid. STF is composed of hard particles suspended in a liquid. The liquid, polyethylene glycol, is non-toxic, and can withstand a wide range of temperatures. Hard, nano-particles of silica are the other components of STF. This combination of flowable and hard components results in a material with unusual properties
Language experts believe that text messages, e-mails and the push for faster and more efficient communications are taking their toll on grammar. Queensland University of Technology sociolinguistics lecturer Jo Carr said people using e-mail and SMS text messaging were unconcerned about grammar and punctuation
The Gene Web Information site is a new site to keep up to date with the latest news from the world of genetics
Clever geometry is the basis of a new material that is said to be ideal for secure data encryption and dense optical information storage. The material consists of a lattice of onionlike spheres in which the particle core and its layers each contain a different dye. The material can hold four or more pieces of information in one spotónot just two as in binary optical data storage. And it opens a door to high-density three-dimensional optical data storage
A mammal that is the daughter of two female parents has been created for the first time. Until now such a feat had been considered biologically impossible. But the mouse, called Kaguya, was born without the involvement of any sperm or male cell — only female eggs were needed — via GeneWeb
Russia may be about to perform a dramatic policy U-turn in ratifying the Kyoto climate change protocol despite months of saying that it would cause irreparable damage to its booming economy. Such a decision would allow the United Nations treaty to finally become legally binding and leave America isolated on the world stage as an environmental sinner
He can’t quite make money grow from trees, but Christopher Anderson, an environmental geologist from Massey University in Palmerston North, New Zealand, has devised a way to harvest gold from plants. The idea: Use common crops to soak up contaminants in soil from gold-mining sites and return the areas to productive agriculture. The gold harvested from the process pays for the cleanup — with money left over for training in sustainable agriculture
A University of Illinois research team is working on turning pig manure into a form of crude oil that could be refined to heat homes or generate electricity. Years of research and fine-tuning lie ahead before the idea could be commercially viable, but results so far indicate there might be big benefits for farmers and consumers
Prime Minister Wen Jiabao has unexpectedly suspended plans for a massive dam system on the Nu River in western China that scientists had warned could ruin one of the country’s last unspoiled places. Wen’s intervention signals that China’s top leaders have not approved a plan that most opponents had considered a fait accompli. However, environmentalists cautioned that the dam project could still eventually go forward in some form
Scientists have detected the first signs that bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) may have crossed into sheep in a study that is likely to rekindle anxieties over the safety of lamb and mutton
NEC has developed a battery that can be recharged only in 30 seconds. Called an organic radical battery, it can be recharged to the same level of power as that stored in nickel-hydrogen cells, which are widely used in digital cameras, portable MD players and other electronic devices. It takes only about 30 seconds to recharge the battery enough to allow 80 hours of continuous operation of an MD player, compared with around an hour needed by conventional rechargeables — via Meta-Roj Blog
Regular doses of worms really do rid people of inflammatory bowel disease. The first trials of the treatment have been a success, and a drinkable concoction containing thousands of pig whipworm eggs could soon be launched in Europe. At the moment the concoction cannot be stored for long, so doctors or hospitals would have to prepare fresh batches of the eggs for their patients. But a new German company called BioCure, whose sister company BioMonde sells leeches and maggots for treating wounds, hopes it will soon solve the storage problem
Chuckles Central makes handbags and other accessories filled with sickeningly sweet cuteness, all handmade by genuine humans. They sell felt decorated robot handbags, crocheted iPod / digital camera / mobile phone cozies, laptop magnets and robot magnets.
Mozilla have got their finger out in the merchandising department and know have Firebird t-shirts available.
Yet another wacky controller for PS2 is about to be released, this one is a wireless motion-sensitive sword for a character in Onimusha 3.
Magnetoids are yet another magnet toy for me to drool over. Despite sounding like some kind of strange ointment for an android’s rear port, these curious yet beautiful little oblique spheroids are actually incredibly powerful magnets that simply can’t bear to be apart.
Researchers have found new colonies of endangered species in a wildlife survey in Sydney’s water catchment area. Thirty species not previously recorded in the area were found as part of the survey, which aims to help the Department of Environment manage the area better
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