Friday 15 May 2009

Johnald's Fantastical Daily Link Splurge

Johnald's Fantastical Daily Link Splurge

10 things we didn't know last week

Posted: 15 May 2009 09:22 AM PDT

Snippets from the week's news, sliced, diced and processed for your convenience. 1. Sending nude images via a mobile phone is called "sexting". More details 2. Miss Universe must remain single for a year. More details 3. The Odeon cinema chains are named after their British founder Oscar Deutsch, and the acronym stands for Oscar Deutsch Entertains Our Nation. More details (Daily Mail) 4. Use of the word "carbuncle" to describe a building was first made in the 19th Century to describe Buckingham Palace. More details (Times) 5. We are born violent. More details 6. And a tribe in Bolivia has a festival of violence to settle disputes. More details 7. Joanna Lumley was sounded out by Labour to run as London Mayor in 2000. More details (Times) 8. Plants can water themselves. More details 9. Emotionally intelligent women orgasm more. More details 10. Some petals have velcro-like surfaces. More details Seen 10 things? Send us a picture to use next week. Thanks to Andrew Ferguson for this week's picture of 10 lids from Smarties tubes.

Top 5 Unsolved Brain Mysteries

Posted: 15 May 2009 07:58 AM PDT

Until fairly recently, scientists lacked the equipment to accurately study the brain. With the advent of brain imaging technology, it's possible that they'll continue to learn more. We can dive into the current thinking on some of the brain's famous unsolved mysteries...

Astronaut's Drawings Of Naked Lady Go To Auction

Posted: 15 May 2009 06:24 AM PDT

The cuff mounted checklist, with his drawing of a naked lady, worn by NASA astronaut Charles Duke on the surface of the moon is displayed at Bonhams on April 27, 2009 in London, England.

M97: The Owl Nebula

Posted: 15 May 2009 06:06 AM PDT

M97: The Owl Nebula The Owl Nebula is perched in the sky about 2,600 light-years away toward the bottom of the Big Dipper's bowl. Also cataloged as M97, the 97th object in Messier's well-known list, its round shape along with the placement of two large, dark "eyes" do suggest the face of a staring owl. One of the fainter objects in Messier's catalog, the Owl Nebula is a planetary nebula, the glowing gaseous envelope shed by a dying sun-like star as it runs out of nuclear fuel. In fact, the Owl Nebula offers an example of the fate of our Sun as it runs out of fuel in another 5 billion years. As we see it, the nebula spans over 2 light-years making it roughly 2,000 times the size of Solar System. Beautiful to look at, this color image shows impressive details within the cosmic owl. The composite includes images made through narrow-band filters for a total of 24 hours of exposure time.

Elephants Taking Water Break at Sunset [PIC]

Posted: 15 May 2009 03:27 AM PDT

Beautiful shot, enlargeable, wallpaper.

Armageddon Energy's Plug n Play Solar Panels

Posted: 15 May 2009 03:27 AM PDT

Rooftop solar panel installation is often a time-consuming and complicated process, but Armageddon Energy's new prefab panels are practically roof-ready when they come out of the box.

Life’s First Spark Recreated in the Laboratory | Wired

Posted: 15 May 2009 03:01 AM PDT

Researchers synthesized the basic ingredients of RNA, a molecule from which the simplest self-replicating structures are made. Until now, they couldn't explain how these ingredients might have formed.

Super Falcon sub 'flys' 1500-feet beneath the waves

Posted: 15 May 2009 03:01 AM PDT

The curious craft with its 10-foot wingspread looks like a sleek jet plane, not what it really is: a small submarine capable of flying deep beneath the ocean's surface to survey whatever's there.

Jealous female gorillas solicit unproductive sex

Posted: 14 May 2009 10:32 PM PDT

Female gorillas get friskier when their silverback has sex with another female, even when they themselves cannot conceive. The finding suggests they use sex to gain an advantage over competing females...Most likely, they were offering sex to curry favour with the male, or to prevent him from impregnating other females.

DARPA working on inertial-nav 'Smart Boot'

Posted: 14 May 2009 10:20 PM PDT

GPS may be commonplace, but DARPA are developing a shoe-based navigation device that can work indoors, underground and underwater - with high accuracy.
Posted by johnald