Neatorama |
- 4 Little Creatures That Pack a Big Scientific Punch
- App Lets Your Baby Choose Its Own Name
- A Toaster Made of 2,500 Pieces of Bread
- BMX Rider Performs World's First Triple Back Flip
- When Potholes Become Art
- "This Guy Has My MacBook" Blog Helps Nab Thief
- What Made this Marking in the Sand?
- Chocolate iPad 2
- The Best Furniture for Typography Nerds
- George Lucas Strikes Back
- Amphibious Ice Cream Van
- Keyboard with Varying Key Heights Based upon Frequency of Usage
- Acrobatic Bagger Has Mad Skillz
- Baaa
- Mini Electric Humvee
- Jetpack Test Flight Footage
- This Robot Juggles Better than Most People
- Elephants Assist in Tornado Clean-Up
- Mosquito-Warding Myths and Tips
- Of Mice and Pigs: Plague Threatens Australian Livestock
- Patently Bad Idea: Centrifugal Birthing Machine
- Father/Daughter Wedding Dance
- Hippo Potty Mouth
- The Museum of Me
- Awesome People Hanging Out Together
- Four Percent of Galaxies Are Like Milky Way
- Chinese Magical Hard-Drive
- A Drug That Could Erase Your Memories
- In the Doghouse
- Motivational Posters from the Band of Brothers
| 4 Little Creatures That Pack a Big Scientific Punch Posted: 02 Jun 2011 05:08 AM PDT Economists do it with spreadsheets and charts. Architects favor balsa wood. But when a biologist needs a model, it's gotta be alive. Here's to the tiny critters that have inched our world forward, one microscopic step at a time. 1. Big Name: Shewanella oneidensis
Why It Deserves a TV Special: Shewanella can go without air longer than David Blaine. If there's no oxygen available, this crafty bacterium can switch gears and consume metal instead. Thanks to this remarkable skill, shewanella can live almost anywhere—from the surface of the Earth to the bottom of the ocean. Not surprisingly, scientists see the bacterium as the perfect model for studying how life evolved during the early days of the Earth, when oxygen was scarce. How It's Saving the Planet: No one knows exactly how shewanella's alternative breathing method works. What scientists do know is that the process transfers extra electrons to metals. When shewanella breathe in uranium and chromium (metals that can be toxic to humans), the extra electrons change the metals so that they can't move through ground water. In other words, shewanella can actually stop toxins in their tracks. And that's good news, because dangerous metals sometimes leak from factories and dumps, poisoning our water supplies. Because shewanella can stop these pollutants, scientists are working on ways to protect lakes and streams by surrounding toxic waste sites with the bacteria. 2. Big Name: Escherichia coli
Don't Believe What You Read: E. coli has a reputation as the scourge of the salad bar, but the vast majority of E. coli strains won't make people sick. In fact, E. coli is one of the most important bacteria inside your intestinal tract. Scientists love working with it, because it's a simple organism that reproduces quickly and because it contains the component parts of more complicated life forms, such as RNA and DNA. How It Backs Up Darwin: Believe it or not, this infamous bacterium has done a lot to further our understanding of evolution. Because of its stunning ability to reproduce quickly, E. coli is an excellent model for tracing genetic mutations. In June 2008, New Scientist reported on a research project at the University of Michigan that investigated 44,000 generations of E. coli. Twenty years ago, the researchers started with a single bacterium; then they separated its descendants into isolated populations and watched them grow. Around generation No. 31,500, one population developed the ability to metabolize citrate, a nutrient in the culture of the petri dishes. It was the equivalent of one group of people—say, Europeans—suddenly being able to digest dirt. The researchers figured this ability was based on several mutations that just happened to eventually combine into a useful trait. Try as they might, the other populations never hit on this exact combination. According to New Scientist, the experiment suggests there's a lot of chance involved in evolution. One group can randomly develop a useful ability that the other groups never acquire, even given enough time and resources. 3. Big Name: Chlamydomonas reinhardtii
Its Place on the Family Tree: Prominent. One of the oldest forms of life, these single-cell algae live at the evolutionary branch that separates animals and plants, meaning they share characteristics with both. For instance, chlamy can transform light into energy like a plant, but it can also swim like an animal by propelling itself through water with flagella (the same wiggly tails that are attached to sperm cells). While chlamy can offer us insight into various aspects of evolution, it's also helping us tackle human disaease. Because the algae's flagella resemble cilia, the tiny hair-like structures that line your organs, scientists also use chlamy to model and understand the cilia's role in illnesses such as kidney and heart disease. How It Will Solve the Energy Crisis: One of the byproducts of chlamy's photosynthetic process is hydrogen, an element people will need en masse to drive hydrogen-powered cars. Right now, hydrogen fuel is derived from natural gas, a non-renewable resource. Scientists are hoping that in time, however, chlamy will provide a cheaper, safer, and greener way to produce large amounts of fuel. 4. Big Name: Caenorhabditis elegans
Why Scientists Love It: This microscopic roundworm is see-through. No, really. Thanks to its transparent flesh, biologists can easily watch what's going on inside. And there's a lot to see. Despite being less than 1 millimeter long, this multi-cell worm has all the physiological systems of much larger animals. Better still, 35 percent of its genes are related to ours. Another Big Advantage: C. elegans are easy to care for, needing only a petri dish for a home and E. coli to eat. How It Will Help Us Live Forever: Scientists have used C. elegans to study what happens to individual cells and entire organisms as they age. There are two dominant theories of aging: One theory posits that aging is a cumulative process of wear and tear on cells, while the other maintains that genes control aging. A recent study of C. elegans at Stanford University provided evidence for the latter. The study found that as the worms aged, levels of three transcription factors (molecular switches that turn genes on and off) become unbalanced. These changes triggered the genetic pathways that turn spry young worms into decrepit old ones. And because it's a lot easier to control transcription factors than it is to prevent all the things that can damage cells (injury, disease, radiation), scientists are optimistic about finding a way to keep us young forever. As Rutgers researcher Monica Driscoll told Scientific American, "Once you've figured out what a key molecule is doing in the worm, you can look for it in humans and expect the same things to happen." ________________________________________
Be sure to visit mental_floss‘ website and blog for more fun stuff!  |
| App Lets Your Baby Choose Its Own Name Posted: 01 Jun 2011 10:28 PM PDT
The new Kick to Pick app lets your unborn baby pick up the grunt work by choosing the name he or she would like to carry through life. No, really. Sort of.
And if you feel like you’re probably throwing 99 cents down the proverbial drain, the app’s creator wants you to know that this is a legitimate problem, this parents-naming-the-baby thing.
I would roll my eyes again, but then I remember that there are children named Pilot Inspektor and Petal Blossom Rainbow in the world. So maybe we should just sell the app to pregnant celebrities. |
| A Toaster Made of 2,500 Pieces of Bread Posted: 01 Jun 2011 09:10 PM PDT Your eyes don’t deceive you – that is a giant toaster made of toast. Artists Ingrid Falk and Gustavo Aguerre, AKA FA+, created a huge mural using 2,500 pieces of bread heated at various lengths of time in the toaster to produce the color variation needed to represent the appliance. It took them two days and the help of a bunch of their toaster-owning friends. |
| BMX Rider Performs World's First Triple Back Flip Posted: 01 Jun 2011 07:33 PM PDT Jed Mildon, 24, of New Zealand became the first BMX rider to perform a triple backflip. He gained the necessary momentum by riding down a 20 meter ramp, then up a 3.6 meter ramp, which launched him into the air. You can watch a video (self-starting) of his feat at the link. |
| Posted: 01 Jun 2011 07:24 PM PDT You probably wouldn’t look at the eyesore outside of your house that claims a couple of hubcaps every week as art, but Claudia Ficca and Davide Luciano do. After a particularly brutal encounter with a “canyon-sized crater of a pothole,” they decided to channel their frustration into something creative and funny. The result is POTHOLES, a series of pictures taken in Montreal, Toronto, New York and L.A. that transform the mundane craters into something useful. I’m partial to Spaghetti & Meatballs on Greenwich St., pictured. Link via Flavorwire |
| "This Guy Has My MacBook" Blog Helps Nab Thief Posted: 01 Jun 2011 06:57 PM PDT Joshua Kaufman’s MacBook was stolen from him way back in March. Luckily, he had installed a $15 app on his laptop called Hidden, which can track your computer “anywhere on the planet” and even take pictures of the people currently using your property. Though the Oakland Police were previously unable to help Kaufman due to a lack of resources, they were certainly interested once the Tumblr he launched last week went viral and got the attention of Good Morning America. Guess what? Kaufman’s MacBook was located last night and returned to him today. But you can check out all of the pictures of “This Guy” doing various things with and to Kaufman’s laptop, including deleting his account. |
| What Made this Marking in the Sand? Posted: 01 Jun 2011 06:43 PM PDT It was a golden mole, which can be found in the desert of Sperrgebiet National Park, Namibia. It survives the heat by tunneling around just under the surface of the sand. At the link, you can watch a video of one being captured and examined by researchers. Link | Photo: Frans Lanting/National Geographic |
| Posted: 01 Jun 2011 06:31 PM PDT |
| The Best Furniture for Typography Nerds Posted: 01 Jun 2011 06:20 PM PDT Love typography? In need of some furnishings for your house that are slightly more advanced than that IKEA armchair you shelled out for in college? Look no further than Tabisso’s typographic lounge furniture. It comes in letters A-Z and numbers 0-9, so you can say whatever you want (provided you have the living space, anyway. We don’t recommend, say, “existentialism” for a studio apartment). You can even get coordinating punctuation-shaped lamps to really accent your furniture statement. Link via the Des Moines Egotist |
| Posted: 01 Jun 2011 06:16 PM PDT (Video Link) After he was kidnapped, George Lucas spent twenty years in captivity, watching an imposter destroy his reputation with three intentionally terrible prequels. Now he’s out and looking for revenge in this fake trailer by Bridge Stuart and Mike Litzenberg. “Not all men are created prequel.” via The Mary Sue |
| Posted: 01 Jun 2011 05:53 PM PDT |
| Keyboard with Varying Key Heights Based upon Frequency of Usage Posted: 01 Jun 2011 05:33 PM PDT Think of Mike Knuepfel’s sculpture as an infographic. The height of each letter is greater the more often that a letter is used in the English language:
Link via Geekologie |
| Acrobatic Bagger Has Mad Skillz Posted: 01 Jun 2011 05:26 PM PDT (Video Link) Rajni, a bagger at a silk market in Chennai, India, treats his job like a performance, and his customers like they are an audience. Now, just add a backflip to the routine…. via Geekosystem |
| Posted: 01 Jun 2011 05:17 PM PDT
Cyriak Harris has a new animation, about sheep. They multiply. He calls it “Experiments in ovine geometry.” -via Boing Boing Previously: More of Cyriak’s work. |
| Posted: 01 Jun 2011 04:53 PM PDT
The compact MEV HUMMER HX is a mini vehicle that features classic HUMMER design including the louver grille, custom wheels, door sills, styled seats and floor mats. The coolest thing about it is that it is electric and can be charged from a 12V charging point. It is aimed at a young consumer who appreciates economy and eco- friendliness. |
| Posted: 01 Jun 2011 02:16 PM PDT Finally, the future is making good on that jetpack promise. This is video footage of Jetson, a weighted test dummy, flying in the Martin Jetpack to 1500 feet, then performing an emergency landing with a ballistic parachute. The total flight lasted around 10 minutes. And now that this is all in order, I’d like to request my own hoverboard and robot nanny. Thank you. |
| This Robot Juggles Better than Most People Posted: 01 Jun 2011 12:11 PM PDT I can’t juggle at all. I have tried before, but I always drop the balls or whatever I am juggling. This robot can juggle and do it very well, I am a little jealous. It does the deed very loudly though with lots of whirring and noise. It uses high-speed cameras to see where the balls are and adjust the trajectory so they go into the waiting “hands” to be tossed up again. |
| Elephants Assist in Tornado Clean-Up Posted: 01 Jun 2011 12:04 PM PDT A Picadilly Circus show was canceled in Joplin, MO following the tornado that recently ravaged the city. Rather than packing up and moving out of town, the circus enlisted the help of its largest performers to help with the clean-up. A volunteer captured this clip of an elephant dragging a car closer to the street so it could be hauled away. Via reddit |
| Mosquito-Warding Myths and Tips Posted: 01 Jun 2011 11:56 AM PDT It’s skeeter season (at least here in Oklahoma) and while everyone has their preferred method of avoiding malaria and dengue fever–and the general annoyance of being vampirized by flying insects–there are some really bad ideas about how to do so. DIY Life has a list of legitimate tips and debunks some common myths about mosquito control. Example:
Link | Image: Wikimedia Commons |
| Of Mice and Pigs: Plague Threatens Australian Livestock Posted: 01 Jun 2011 11:35 AM PDT
Mouse bait isn’t cheap, though, so farmers are utilizing homemade methods of pest control; aside from rubbing his pigs in engine oil, Gregory mixes confectioner’s sugar with cement. “The icing sugar attracts the mice, they eat it and then the cement clogs them up.” Link |Image: Wikipedia Commons |
| Patently Bad Idea: Centrifugal Birthing Machine Posted: 01 Jun 2011 11:20 AM PDT Because childbirth isn’t painful and horrifying enough on its own, I guess, G.B. Blonsky, et. al. decided to provide “civilised women” with this medieval torture device birthing apparatus that applies centrifugal force to the mother, thereby allowing her a “quick and normal delivery.” I shudder to think that this was ever tested on a person. Ptak Science Books has more images and information, should you be morbidly fascinated enough to look. |
| Posted: 01 Jun 2011 10:53 AM PDT Ah, the Father/Daughter Wedding Dance … the loving glance of a parent and child, the awkward swaying to cheesy music … Well, not at Brooke Lavin’s wedding! At her wedding, her pop Bill showed some of his smooth moves: Hit play or go to Link [YouTube] – via The Frisky |
| Posted: 01 Jun 2011 10:52 AM PDT
Got a friend who %^!#@#$% loves to swear? The Hippo Potty Mouth from the NeatoShop is the perfect T-shirt for ‘em! Check out our newest in Funny T-shirts and Science T-shirts, starting from just $9.95! |
| Posted: 01 Jun 2011 10:39 AM PDT Have you ever wanted to have your own museum exhibition? Well now you can with the Museum of Me Facebook application. The app takes all of your Facebook information and formats into an "exhibition" featuring your frequent likes, all photos you have uploaded and the most frequent words you post on your page. |
| Awesome People Hanging Out Together Posted: 01 Jun 2011 10:38 AM PDT Sometimes "awesome" people like to hang out together. And I'm not talking about a member of Aerosmith hanging out with another member of Aerosmith: Sometimes these famous or infamous people are hanging out with other famous or infamous people that you wouldn't think knew each other. Such as Nancy Reagan and Mr. T. See link for gallery of other awesome pairings. |
| Four Percent of Galaxies Are Like Milky Way Posted: 01 Jun 2011 10:38 AM PDT
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| Posted: 01 Jun 2011 10:37 AM PDT Just like eating fifty cent tacos, sometimes paying less for something isn't always a good idea. Such is the lesson that some folks have learned buying bargain priced 500GB hard drives from China that turn out not to be a lot less than what they appear.
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| A Drug That Could Erase Your Memories Posted: 01 Jun 2011 10:36 AM PDT
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| Posted: 01 Jun 2011 06:48 AM PDT Mandy Jouan decorated Izzy’s dog crate as a gift on the one-year anniversary of her adoption. She was scared to enter the box at first -can you blame her? Link -via Buzzfeed (Image credit: Flickr user Sappymoosetree) |
| Motivational Posters from the Band of Brothers Posted: 01 Jun 2011 06:19 AM PDT Easy Company, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division is a group of World War II heroes you might know from the book or the miniseries Band of Brothers. They fought at the D-Day Invasion, the Battle of the Bulge, and Operation Market Garden, and liberated concentration camps, yet they came home and went on with their lives. No one knew much about what they did until the book came out. But these men gained quite a bit of wisdom from their war experiences, tempered by age, which they gave us in their stories. The Art of Manliness took some of those quotes and made them into a series of awesome motivational posters. Link -via Gorilla Mask |
(Image credit: Flicker user 
(Image credit: Flickr user 
(Image credit: Flickr user 
(Image credit: Flickr user 
The article above, written by Maggie Koerth-Baker, is reprinted with permission from the 
The worst thing about being a future parent has to be picking a name, right? Because who really wants to do that? (Insert eyeroll here.)
Farmers in Adelaide, Australia are having a bit of a rodent problem. The mouse population has grown to epic proportions due to recent heavy rains and booming crop yields–perfect conditions for an infestation. It’s so bad that one farmer, John Gregory, has caught the mice attacking his pigs.
Researchers have discovered that only four percent of galaxies have similar qualities as our own Milky Way. I guess every galaxy really is a snowflake.
If you could take a drug that would erase only your bad memories and memories of being afraid, would you take it? Metyrapone is a drug that could do just that. While there are some obvious advantages to not remembering certain experiences, the negative side effects could outweigh the positive.
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