| Let Sleeping Pigs Lie Posted: 16 May 2009 02:59 AM PDT
These piglets are just trying to get a little shuteye, but some humans have found a way to make them twitch their ears in unison.
From the Upcoming  ueue, submitted by  Marilyn Terrell. 
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| Nose Too Cold for Avian Flu Posted: 15 May 2009 05:25 PM PDT While everyone was talking about the swine flu, researchers at the University of North Carolina have found the reason why its far-scarier cousins, the avian flu strains, didn’t become a full-blown pandemic. Turns out, we have our cold noses to thank: All and all, 248 humans have died from the H5N1 according to WHO data as of January 2009. H5N1, as a strain, infects more species than any previously known flu virus, is deadlier than previous strains, and continues to evolve becoming both more widespread and more deadly. But even still, fears of a pandemic have yet to be realized. Now, researchers might have found the reason: our noses are too cold for the Avian flu. [...] The difference in temperature, internally, between a human and a bird isn’t all that different - people maintain an internal temperature of about 37 degrees celcius, whereas birds stay a little warmer, around 40 degrees celcius. Researchers from the University of North Carolina wanted to know how these temperature differences might affect avian influenza viruses. They took a avian virus strain, H4N6, and human flu H3N2, and tried to infect human airway epithelial cells - the cells that line our noses and lungs. Both, they found, could infect and replicate quite quickly human airway epthelial cells at 37 degrees celcius, though the avian ones were a little slower in general than the human ones. But when the temperature was dropped to that of our noses - a bit cooler 32 degrees celcius - the avian virus replication slowed to a snail’s pace, 3-5 log units below the human virus’ speed. They tried a different avian strain - H5N3 - and found the same results. So they tried the deadly virus itself, H5N1 isolated from a dead person, and even it fared poorly. It seems that something about avian flu viruses simply can’t function right in cooler temperatures.
Link From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by  mattphunkadellic. 
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| Amazing Picture of the Sun Posted: 15 May 2009 05:18 PM PDT Astrophotographer Thierry Legault took what is probably one of the most incredible photographs of the Sun. What’s the big deal about the big yellow ball? Look closely: OK, so you look at it and say, “So what? It's a picture of the quiet Sun seen in overcast conditions. Big deal!” Ah, but a big deal it is. See those spots in the lower left quadrant of our nearest star? Those aren't sunspots… here, let me show you what those are:
Yes, that is in fact the Space Shuttle Atlantis silhouetted against the Sun. But wait, there's something else, isn't there. What's that spot below the Shuttle? That, me droogs, is the Hubble Space Telescope. Perhaps you've heard of it. Holy Haleakala!
Link - via google From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by  mrsmojorisin. 
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| Pixel City Posted: 15 May 2009 01:05 PM PDT
Pixel City is a procedurally-generated city by Shamus Young. For the non-coders out there, this essentially means that based on a certain set of rules, a 3-D city is generated dynamically each time the program runs.
- via diskursdisko From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by  diskursdisko. 
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| Ant-Mugging Flies Posted: 15 May 2009 12:51 PM PDT A new article released today in the journal of African Inverterates by Alex Wild and Irina Brake details the unusual behavior of a group of kleptoparasitic flies in South Africa. They lay in wait for ants, and mug them, literally stealing food from their mouths! Last July, while wandering about the coastal forests of St. Lucia in eastern South Africa, I happened across an intriguing scene half-way up a spiny Acacia trunk. Some diminutive gray flies were pestering a trail of ants as they walked along the tree. The flies’ exact activities were hard to observe with the naked eye, but it looked like nothing I’d ever seen. They seemed to be grabbing ants, pinning them to the trunk, and after a few seconds letting them go again. The macro lens on my camera serves as a handy field microscope. Conveniently, the flies were so focused on attacking the ants I could place the lens nearly on top of them and observe the details of their activities without spooking them. On inspection, it turned out that the flies were stealing food.
Link From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by  liquidanbar. 
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| Top 10 Toilets Screaming High-Tech in Luxury Posted: 15 May 2009 11:44 AM PDT Toilets are no more an eyesore. Experience the difference of total comfort and luxury with these high-tech toilets. This post covers 10 most advanced toilets available. The technology that's packed into toilet seats these days will make your head spin.
Link From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by  geekonthemove. 
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| It Takes Ladies to Knit a Village Posted: 15 May 2009 11:43 AM PDT A group of ladies in England have knitted their entire village - to scale. Dozens of pictures at the link. …every inch of this village - Mersham, in Kent - has been lovingly knitted by a small group of very twinkly ladies who started 23 years ago with a couple of cottages and some pigs, and ended up creating more than 60 properties, complete with wheelie bins, outdoor loos, gas tanks, cars in the driveways and even a smart red telephone box.
Link - via uniquedaily From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by  Minnesotastan. 
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