News Article

Sep

2010

Sunbather Singed by Shiny Hotel’s Reflected “Death Rays”

Discover, September 28 2010.

Poolside at Las Vegas’s Vdara hotel is a dangerous place to be. That’s according to one tourist who claims he almost had his hair singed off by a “death ray”—the term used by some hotel employees—reflected from hotel’s shiny facade.

The hotel’s spokesperson would understandably prefer to use the term “hot spot” or “solar convergence” to describe the spot near the pool where the sunlight reflects off the building’s side. Hotel guests say they have seen plastic cups and bags melt from the heat of the ray. The Review-Journal was tipped off to the problem by the story of a poolside lounger named Bill Pintas from Chicago. Read More >

Sep

2010

Bicycle Bubble/Monorail Transportation System—Crazy or Genius (or Both)?

Discover, September 28 2010.

A human-powered monorail system called Shweeb won $1 million from Google’s 10^100 innovations contest. The company that manufactured the Shweeb is one of five to be awarded a total of $10 million from the competition. They will use the money to develop the Shweeb for use as a city commuter transport option. The Shweeb efficiently uses human power from a rider sitting in the recumbent seat, pedaling the bubble-shaped pod through the air. This vision for public transportation is a little out there, but the Shweeb has some promise, says Gearlog.

Like all truly forward thinking ideas, Shweeb seems completely nuts at first glance. As a tech blogger I’d love nothing more than to mock Google and it’s choice of Shweeb with its poor-man’s take on the Jetsonsopening sequence. But the more you read about it, the more Shweeb’s innovative take urban transport makes a whole lot of sense. Read More >

Sep

2010

Don’t Give Up Hope: Earth Has Not Yet Selected an Alien Ambassador

Discover, September 27 2010.

The truth is out there… but it’s not that Mazlan Othman is going to be our space ambassador, as recently reported by The Sunday Times (paywall) and reprinted in The Australian.

The United Nations, tackling head-on the problem of what to do if an alien says “take me to your leader”, is poised to designate a specific individual for the task…. An obscure Malaysian astrophysicist who is head of its little-known Office for Outer Space Affairs (Unoosa). Read More >

Sep

2010

It’s a Bra! It’s a Dust Mask! It’s Both! And Now, It’s for Sale

Discover, September 27 2010.

The Emergency Bra, which won both the Ig Nobel prize in public health and a spot on TIME’s list of the Worst Inventions of 2009 is now available through the website, www.ebbra.com for $29.99. CNET explains its intended use:

The bra is, of course, meant to be taken off, something most adults presumably have experience with. Once removed, it separates into two masks which, when placed over the nose and mouth, filter out particles…. Read More >

Sep

2010

Modded iPod Nano Bot Dances to Its Own Music

Discover, September 24 2010.

This little 6th generation iPod nano just wants to dance. Because that’s what its human programmed it to do.

Kazu Terasaki, also known as YouTube user PachimonDotCom, is a Japanese software engineer from Silicon Valley, CA who is addicted to making apple products walk around. He has been working on this project for years, hoping to create a robo-legs product that could give any gadget the ability to walk around, says a GetRobo post about Kazu’s walking objects project from 2008. Read More >

Sep

2010

Touching a Boo-Boo Really Does Make It Feel Better

Discover, September 24 2010.

Clutching an injury does make it feel better, according to a study published in Current Biology, reducing the pain on average 64 percent. But only if the injured party is the one doing the clutching (insert your own self-touching joke here). It doesn’t work if someone else does it. Study coauthor Marjolein Kammers explained to the Daily Mail what this means:

“Pain isn’t just the signals coming from the body to the brain, but it is also the way the brain processes those signals,” she said. Read More >

Sep

2010

The First Ever Flight of a Pedal-Powered, Wing-Flapping Vehicle

Discover, September 23 2010.

August 2nd marked the first human-powered flight of an ornithopter. Wait, a what? It’s pronounced awr-nuh-thop-ter, and it’s an aircraft propelled by flapping wings, like a bird. First sketched by Leonardo da Vinci in 1485, people have been trying to improve on his design–and build a working model–for centuries.

A group at the University of Toronto’s Institute of Aerospace Studies made their own design, and in August, they successfully flew the first human-powered ornithopter. The pilot, a PhD candidate named Todd Reichert, sat in a tiny cockpit pedaling furiously to make the wings gracefully flap. Reichert explained the world’s obsession with this strange machine: Read More >

Sep

2010

How to Get Rid of Invasive Tree Snakes: Bomb Them With Parachuted, Poisonous Mice

Discover, September 23 2010.

The USDA and the EPA are in cahoots, scheming against Guam’s invasive brown tree snakes, or are they throwing a party?

Using streamers, cardboard, some acetaminophen (aka Tylenol, aka hangover medicine), some dead mice and a helicopter, the team is looking to destroy the island’s invasive snake population.

Guam has only two snake populations. The first is the island’s only other snake: a tiny, blind worm-like little guy. The second, and more obvious, is the invasive tree snake, which is mildly venomous, can reach 11 feet long, and can be found at up to 12,000 snakes per square mile. Read More >

Sep

2010

The Public Speaks: Best Insulting New Names for High Fructose Corn Syrup

Discover, September 23 2010.

The New York Times’s health blog is asking scientists and readers what they would rename high fructose corn syrup, if they were given the chance. The ubiquitous sticky sweetener is considered poison by many foodies and some public health officials, who worry that HFCS-packed processed foods contribute to obesity. But the companies that make the sweetener–the Corn Refiners Group–are hoping that changing the name of the product will change its image, as their president told the New York Times:

“Clearly the name is confusing consumers,” said Audrae Erickson, president of the Washington-based group, in an interview. “Research shows that ‘corn sugar’ better communicates the amount of calories, the level of fructose and the sweetness in this ingredient.” Read More >

Sep

2010

That’s a Relief: Ice Cream Doesn’t Cause Brain Damage

Discover, September 22 2010.

So sweet… so painful. You try to hold back, to stop yourself from over-indulging, because you know what will happen: That crippling, brain-piercing pain of the ever-feared brain freeze will ruin your ice cream love-fest.

Bjorn Carey of Popular Science discussed this terrifying condition with medical experts, seeking their opinion:

First, let’s get one thing straight. “This condition is referred to as an ‘ice-cream headache,’ ” says Stacey Gray, a sinus surgeon at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary in Boston. “It’s a very technical term.” Read More >