July 2009
45 posts
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This Is Timothy Geithner’s Beautiful House - Not Selling (via Consumerist; The Daily Show, Comedy Central)
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Synchronized Swimming Of Algae →
Using high-speed cinematography, scientists at Cambridge University have discovered that individual algal cells can regulate the beating of their flagella in and out of synchrony in a manner that controls their swimming trajectories. Their research was published on the 24th July in the journal Science….
Using a specialised apparatus to track the swimming trajectories of individual cells,...
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Greenland Comes In From The Cold →
The last decade has brought with it markedly higher summer temperatures in the arctic North. In southern Greenland farmers have planted fields of potatoes as the growing season has lengthened.
Plans are afoot to establish forests of Siberian Larch on this windswept and treeless island. For Greenlanders, all 56,000 of them, the long-term prospect of being able to “grow their own”,...
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Students Embed Stem Cells In Sutures To Enhance... →
At the site of the injury, the stem cells are expected to reduce inflammation and release growth factor proteins that speed up the healing, enhancing the prospects for a full recovery and reducing the likelihood of re-injury…. (more @ ScienceDaily)
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Artificial Brain 10 Years Away →
It was declared at a TED talk, so it must be true!
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It is true!
Laura, after seeing the folks at Pitchfork tonight..I agree...
laura: btw
laura: i think hipsters are fattening up
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Colombia Kills Drug Baron Hippo →
Colombian bounty hunters have shot and killed one of three hippopotamuses which escaped from a private zoo owned by former drugs baron Pablo Escobar. The African-born hippos broke out of the zoo, called Napoles, in 2006 and thrived in the nearby Magdalena valley. But officials said they were a threat to people and crops, and that all three would have to be destroyed…. (continues @ BBC News)
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US Military Will Ban Smoking →
The US military should be smoke-free within the next 20 years, says a government-commissioned report. The Institute of Medicine (IOM) said 30% of army personnel are smokers, leading to “very high” economic and health costs. But it acknowledged that the change could be hard to introduce, as smoking has “long been associated with the image of a tough, fearless warrior”. The...
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Active Ingredient In Cannabis Eliminates Morphine... →
Injections of THC, the active principle of cannabis, eliminate dependence on opiates (morphine, heroin) in rats deprived of their mothers at birth. The findings could lead to therapeutic alternatives to existing substitution treatments…. (continues @ ScienceDaily)
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Chicago Fireworks Started Early to Prevent...
At least that is what Chicagoist and the Second City Cop are saying. The fireworks started about 15 minutes early, possibly to confuse all the fireworks-watching criminals.
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Honeybee Mobs Overpower Hornets →
Honeybee hordes use two weapons - heat and carbon dioxide - to kill their natural enemies, giant hornets. Japanese honeybees form “bee balls” - mobbing and smothering the predators. This has previously been referred to as “heat-balling”, but a study has now shown that carbon dioxide also plays a role in its lethal effectiveness. In the journal Naturwissenschaften, the...