NASA began fueling shuttle Atlantis for liftoff Thursday, even though bad weather threatened to delay the mission to add another science lab to the international space station. ... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 7 Feb 2008 | 10:27 am
London-based Kindo, a social network aimed at your living family-tree, has won undisclosed seed funding from Estonia-based Ambient Sound Investments, reports TechCrunch UK. (Why are they Estonian based?... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 7 Feb 2008 | 10:09 am
Sending gift coupons via text messages has become a multi-million-dollar business for South Korea's largest mobile carrier, SK Telecom, since its launch in December 2006, reports dpa , seeing year-over-year... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 7 Feb 2008 | 9:35 am
By Andrew Liszewski While I wouldn’t say Toshiba’s G450 4-in-1 mobile device is particularly innovative, I’ll at least give it credit for looking different. With only 160MB of storage... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 7 Feb 2008 | 9:16 am
Dr.Merkwurdigeliebe writes ""Enhanced drivers licenses such as those to be issued in B.C. will lay the groundwork for a national identity card", federal privacy commissioner Jennifer Stoddart said yesterday. Stoddart said the licenses, touted as an alternative to a passport for the purpose of crossing the U.S. border, closely resemble the Real ID program in the United States. She characterized that program as a way of introducing a "type of national identity card" for Americans."
Harold Clay was burned at school today after his PSP caught fire in his pants pocket. Knowing what to do, the 12 year-old dropped and rolled when he felt it heating up. The middle school student from... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 7 Feb 2008 | 9:16 am
Infineon Technologies AG , the German maker of semiconductors, said Thursday that a downturn at its Qimonda computer memory chip subsidiary pushed it to a loss in the first quarter of its fiscal year. Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 7 Feb 2008 | 9:07 am
According to The Sydney Morning Herald , hundreds of Hamburger Phone are flying off eBay 's virtual shelves after they appeared in the hit comedy Juno . "Paul de Carvalho, manager of Fox Searchlight... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 7 Feb 2008 | 8:56 am
A little under two weeks ago, we made a long-standing issue that we had with Verizon public. The fact that they had ignored our request to fix a huge oversight that resulted in our private... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 7 Feb 2008 | 8:53 am
Virtual world for kids 8-12 Dizzywood has taken $1 million Series A in a round led by Shelby Bonnie with Charles River Ventures and other individual investors also participating. Tiburon, CA based Dizzywood... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 7 Feb 2008 | 8:28 am
By Andrew Liszewski If you’re using a candybar style cellphone that’s lacking a full alphanumeric keypad, adding multiple entries to your phonebook via T9 can be a bit of a pain. So not only... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 7 Feb 2008 | 8:11 am
NASA pressed ahead with Thursday's planned launch of shuttle Atlantis, even though bad weather threatened to delay the mission to add another science lab to the international space... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 7 Feb 2008 | 8:00 am
By Rach, Nina M Educators have been taking "giant strides" off the M/V Fling to investigate marine communities at two High Island platforms, just within the boundaries of the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 7 Feb 2008 | 8:00 am
ATLANTA - Lawmakers are busy drafting plans to ease Georgia's water restrictions, but Georgia's top environmental official isn't ready to sign off on the idea yet. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 7 Feb 2008 | 8:00 am
By Snow, Nick The US Department of the Interior and Colorado state officials have begun discussing the Roan Plateau's future and will continue talks over coming weeks, Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter said on Dec. 20. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 7 Feb 2008 | 8:00 am
By Snow, Nick The US Bureau of Land Management published a draft programmatic environmental impact statement on Dec. 21 to guide future management of 1.9 million acres in Utah, Colorado, and Wyoming for potential commercial oil shale development. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 7 Feb 2008 | 8:00 am
By Dion Lefler, The Wichita Eagle, Kan. Feb. 7--A group aiming to reduce chronic homelessness in the Wichita area will hold a public meeting today to give residents a chance to ask questions and offer suggestions on plans to solve the problem. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 7 Feb 2008 | 8:00 am
By Elizabeth Souder, The Dallas Morning News Feb. 7--AUSTIN -- The chairman of a new Texas House committee to study power generation capacity and the environment said Wednesday that Texas has done more for the environment than most other states. Rep. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 7 Feb 2008 | 8:00 am
Raytec Metals Corp. (the "Company") (TSX-V: RAY) (FRANKFURT: XZT) is pleased to announce that it has staked additional ground, expanding its land holdings adjoining Exploration Permit Application Area ("EPAA") KP441, located in Saskatchewan. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 7 Feb 2008 | 8:00 am
By Anne Jungen, La Crosse Tribune, Wis. Feb. 7--Four domestic abuse charges were filed Wednesday against a La Crosse man accused of choking and whipping a woman with a computer cord. Source: RedOrbit News - Science | 7 Feb 2008 | 8:00 am
By Mari A. Schaefer, The Philadelphia Inquirer Feb. 7--In January 2006, Delaware County detectives traced images of child pornography found on the Internet to the address of a computer located at an Upper Darby home. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 7 Feb 2008 | 8:00 am
By Paul Gores, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Feb. 7--Intel Corp.'s popular Core 2 Duo processor, the brain of many of today's personal computers, includes technology created by University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers, according to a federal lawsuit accusing Intel of patent infringement. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 7 Feb 2008 | 8:00 am
By John von Radowitz PRE-SCHOOL children should not be allowed to watch TV or play with computers, a leading expert and author claims. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 7 Feb 2008 | 8:00 am
By Sam Wood, The Philadelphia Inquirer Feb. 7--A South Philadelphia High School teacher accused of having sex with a 14-year-old student will most likely be fired after being charged with statutory rape, authorities said. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 7 Feb 2008 | 8:00 am
By Bob Fernandez, The Philadelphia Inquirer Feb. 7--A Pennsylvania agency dropped its prosecution of Internet retailer and former-stay-at-home-mom Mary Jo Pletz for selling on eBay without an auctioneer's license, according to a letter mailed to her home. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 7 Feb 2008 | 8:00 am
SCORES of friends and well-wishers are continuing to visit the crash site where messages and floral tributes have been laid and vigils held. One message reads: "Matty J. I'll never forget you and here's a beer, you need it more than me. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 7 Feb 2008 | 8:00 am
Ted Haggard, former pastor of New Life Church in Colorado Springs, has ended his official relationship with the mega church he founded. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 7 Feb 2008 | 8:00 am
AT&T and Local Insight Regatta Holdings, a yellow pages publisher, have announced the execution of a definitive agreement for Local Insight to acquire the assets of The Berry Company's Independent Line of Business from LM Berry and Company, a subsidiary of AT&T. Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 7 Feb 2008 | 8:00 am
The persistence of telephone numbers reflects the long-standing pursuit of innovations that serve the telephone company, not telephone customers. They are meaningless, and yet the wait for a mechanism... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 7 Feb 2008 | 8:00 am
CEO Jerry Yang tells employees the firm is studying alternatives to Microsoft's takeover bid. Analysts say one scenario is an advertising pact with its larger rival. ... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 7 Feb 2008 | 8:00 am
Toxicology reports show that the actor died after combining various prescription drugs including oxycodone, officials say. ... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 7 Feb 2008 | 8:00 am
Add To Your Site: While not the fuel cell battery replacement for gadgets we keep hearing about Horizon is promising some very cool technology nonetheless:... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNBlogTech | 7 Feb 2008 | 7:58 am
DHAKA (Reuters) - Bird flu has spread to another district in Bangladesh, taking the number of affected districts to 39, officials said on Thursday, as the government increased compensation... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 7 Feb 2008 | 7:02 am
Online banking service provider CheckFree Corp. is rolling out technology that could mean consumers will no longer have to go to a bank branch to deposit checks. Called Remote Deposit... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 7 Feb 2008 | 6:50 am
countries to try a new concept: a tiny cellphone that pops into interchangeable "jackets" to become a bigger, smarter phone - or into other gadgets to connect them to the Internet. The Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 7 Feb 2008 | 6:25 am
Anonymous Coward writes "The Washington Post has an article about the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity's take on the numerous virtual worlds (e.g. Second Life) that have cropped up in recent years. IARPA's thesis is that because the Government can't currently monitor all the communication and interaction, terrorists will plot and scheme in such environments."
MILWAUKEE - Online banking service provider CheckFree Corp. is rolling out technology that could mean consumers will no longer have to go to a bank branch to deposit cheques. Called... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 7 Feb 2008 | 5:48 am
An Israeli startup has convinced wireless carriers in three countries to try a new concept: a tiny cell phone that pops into interchangeable "jackets" to become a bigger, smarter phone -- or into other... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 7 Feb 2008 | 5:45 am
HERZLIA, Israel, Feb. 7 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Flash Networks, a leading provider of mobile Internet quality-of-experience (QoE) solutions, today announced integration Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 7 Feb 2008 | 5:44 am
An Israeli startup has convinced wireless carriers in three countries to try a new concept: a tiny cell phone that pops into interchangeable "jackets" to become a bigger, smarter phone _... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 7 Feb 2008 | 5:41 am
ALBANY, N.Y., Feb. 7 /PRNewswire/ -- Are you up all night because your new puppy is? Are you frazzled about which method of potty training is best? Does your adolescent... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 7 Feb 2008 | 5:09 am
Online banking service provider CheckFree Corp. is rolling out technology that could mean consumers will no longer have to go to a bank branch to deposit checks. Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperTech | 7 Feb 2008 | 5:05 am
Cisco Systems Inc. CEO John Chambers' troubling assessment of the health of U.S. technology spending late last year triggered a stock sell-off that chopped Cisco's market value by... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsTech | 7 Feb 2008 | 5:04 am
Mr. Know-It-All explains why certain videogames may not be such a bad idea at a party, and says to be weary of offers for anything other than what you already want.
Annalee Newitz has a great post up today on i09, Gawker's sf blog, about the Seven Habits of Highly Effective Spaceship Captains:
# Don't be afraid to hook up with a cute spaceman. We love Leela on Futurama not just because she's the only person on her ship with any kind of sense, but because she also lets her long, purple hair down once in a while. She's always tangling with spacemen and getting mixed up with strange alien pets. And that's one good reason why her goofy crew would follow her to the ends of the galaxy -- well, if she had enough beer. Lesson learned? A good leader has to get laid once in a while, and she shouldn't be ashamed of it.
# When you're about to go genocidal, get a second opinion. Admiral William Adama from the new Battlestar Galactica is one of the best leaders we've ever seen. He's gotten a group of a few thousand humans halfway across the galaxy, despite the fact that they're being pursuit by a group of homicidal, erotically obsessed cyborgs. He's had to deal with incredible loss and sheer terror, and he always keeps his head. He is also truly humane. How does he keep it together without going all Admiral Cain on everybody's ass? By sharing his power with President Roslyn as well as his circle of trusted officers and advisers.
Hugh Pickens writes "What is transparent, swims, and helps cure cancer? Caspar the friendly fish — a zebrafish bred with a see-through body to make studying disease processes easier for rapidly changing processes such as cancer, Zebrafish are genetically similar to humans in many ways and serve as good models for human biology and disease. In one experiment, researchers inserted a fluorescent melanoma tumor into the abdominal cavity of the transparent fish and by observing the fish under a microscope, they found that the cancer cells started spreading within five days and could actually see individual cells spreading. "The process by which a tumor goes from being localized to widespread and ultimately fatal is the most vexing problem that oncologists face," says Richard White, a clinical fellow in the Stem Cell Program at Children's Hospital Boston. "We don't know why cancer cells decide to move away from their primary site to other parts in the body." Researchers created the transparent fish, (photo) by mating two existing zebrafish breeds, one that lacked a reflective skin pigment and the other without black pigment. The offspring had only yellow skin pigment, essentially appearing clear."
A Greenpeace activist was recently arrested for protesting in front of the US Department of the Interior while wearing an awesome polar bear suit. He was trying to draw attention to the Bush Administration’s delay in issuing a final Endangered Species Act listing for the polar bear due to global warming. Link to Greenpeace blog post.
But guess who made the costume? The exceedingly talented artisan Lionel, whose work was featured in two Boing Boing tv episodes about furries:
A newly launched project called White House Redux invites you to design a new home for the U.S. Presidency:
What if the White House, the ultimate architectural symbol of political power, were to be designed today? On occasion of the election of the 44th President of the United States of America, Storefront for Art and Architecture, in association with Control Group, challenge you to design a new residence for the world's most powerful individual. The best ideas, designs, descriptions, images, and videos will be selected by some of the world's most distinguished designers and critics and featured in a month-long exhibition at Storefront for Art and Architecture in July 2008 and published in Surface magazine. All three winners will be flown to New York to collect their prizes at the opening party.
A few preliminary pictures of an Obama
rallying sign created by artist,
designer and maker James Home, based on the image created by Shepard Fairey. Amazing BlinkM lighting technology courtesy of Mike Kuniavsky and ThingM
Global Marketing.
This thing looks completely amazing in
action. It basically works like a
political tractor beam, pulling in the
formerly hopeless, cynical and apathetic
and parking them in the warm shuttle bay
of hope and action. Something like that.
Last week, Mark blogged about reports that TSA agents in certain US airports were reportedly demanding that air travelers remove *all* electronics from their carry-on luggage (not just laptops, but phones, cables, cameras, everything) during screening. Mark referenced Scott Beale's post, and I believe Beale was the first to speak up about it. He experienced this at SFO, but many others traveling in or out of SFO around the same time (myself included), did not -- so everyone was confused.
Today, on the newfangled Official TSA Blog (RSS), there's a super awkward apology of sorts, and an even more awkward but hearty back-slap to bloggers for bringing the issue to public attention. That's their logo, above.
Posters on this blog have had their first official impact on our operations. That’s right, less than one week since we began the blog and already you’re affecting security in a very positive way.
On Monday afternoon we began receiving questions about airports that were requiring ALL electronics to be removed from carry-on bags (everything, including blackberrys, iPods and even cords). This practice was also mentioned on several other blogs and left us scratching our heads.
So…we checked with our security operations team to figure out what was going on. After some calls to our airports, we learned that this exercise was set up by local TSA offices and was not part of any grand plan across the country. These practices were stopped on Monday afternoon and blackberrys, cords and iPods began to flow through checkpoints like the booze was flowing on Bourbon Street Tuesday night. (Fat Tuesday of course).
But there are, in fact, even more events taking place at Machine Project this very weekend -- and I'll be there for all of them with the Boing Boing tv crew for an extended dance remix of hijinks with our trusty video cameras.
Mark Allen of Machine Project explains:
1. On Friday February 8th at 8pm, we’re hosting the first-ever competition for the new sport of Cabling (aka competitive cable untangling), founded by Steven Schkolne, and featuring interns in jumpsuits, a discussion of knot theory, three rounds of untangling various extension and A/V cords, and pretzels. Qualifying rounds will be two nights before on Wednesday, February 6th, from 8-11pm. If you’d like to try out for a spot in the competition, please email us at machine@machineproject.com to schedule a time to come in on the 6th. We strongly encourage aspiring competitors to come up with intimidating Cabling nicknames for themselves.
2. We have negotiated the Mithril shipments needed for the armor for Brody Condon - Performance Modification (Nauman) that happens from 8-10pm Saturday February 9th. To recap - 10 performers outfitted in medieval/space/fantasy armor re-create Bruce Nauman’s 1973 work “Tony Sinking into the Floor, Face Up and Face Down”. Performed in slow motion and combined with movements based on computer game death animations, this piece is accompanied by a high volume binaural beats reputed to induce out of body experiences.
DaMassive writes "Computerworld Australia is running a story with a response from Microsoft to Infoworld's SAVE XP petition Web site, which has gathered over 75,000 signatures so far. Apparently Microsoft is aware of the petition, but says it is "listening first and foremost to feedback we hear from partners and customers about what makes sense based on their needs, that's what informed our decision to extend the availability of XP initially, and what will continue to guide us" — a somewhat strange response given that the vast majority of people signing the petition ARE Microsoft customers! The Save XP movement has attracted the attention of the software giant, despite its claims that Vista has sold more than 100 million copies and its adoption rate is in line with the company's expectations. "We're seeing positive indicators that we're already starting to move from the early adoption phase into the mainstream and that more and more businesses are beginning their planning and deployment of Windows Vista," the company said. Nevertheless vendors such as Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo, Fujitsu, and more recently NEC, all offer the opportunity to downgrade to XP Pro."
Never mind who was ahead in Tuesday's primary elections -- what about those sweet gadgets all the network TV anchors were using? We spotted Jeff Han's multitouch screen on CNN, a 3-D display on ABC and a touch-sensitive screen on Katie Couric's desk on CBS.
Never mind who was ahead in Tuesday's primary elections -- what about those sweet gadgets all the network TV anchors were using? We spotted Jeff Han's multitouch screen on CNN, a 3-D display on ABC and a touch-sensitive screen on Katie Couric's desk on CBS.
MP3.com founder Michael Robertson's latest venture is Dealipedia, a wiki-based site that aims to collect information about business deals, including mergers, acquisitions, funding events and bankruptcies.
Time Warner seems ready to sell its underperforming AOL unit -- but with the possibility of a Microsoft-Yahoo merger, the list of potential acquirers has grown much shorter.
The gaming industry is set to court the swelling ranks of casual gamers who favor the ease-of-gameplay offered by platforms like the Wii and Nintendo DS, along with the varied selection and lower prices offered through downloadable games.
narramissic writes "Remember the controversial Mac hacking contest from last year's CanSecWest conference? No? Here's a refresher: Conference organizers challenged attendees to hack into a Macintosh laptop, with the successful hacker winning the computer and a cash prize. Winner Dino Dai Zovi found a QuickTime bug that allowed him to run unauthorized software on the Mac once the computer's browser was directed to a specially crafted Web page. Well, the contest is back again this year, but with a twist, says Dragos Ruiu, the principal organizer of CanSecWest: 'We're thinking of having a contest where we have Vista and OS X and Linux ... and see which one goes first.""
What if the files you want to share are too big to fit in an e-mail? The free desktop client Pando lets you share files up to one gigabyte in size with anyone.
PlainBlack writes "Possibility isn't limited by technology. And it's certainly not limited by human imagination. What makes something impossible is the lack of cold, hard, cash. Wired blog takes a look at 10 science fiction technologies we could build, if they weren't so expensive. 'New York-L.A. Maglev Express - Cost: $70bn (Based on established construction costs). At $70bn, it's tantalizingly affordable by the standards of this roundup: a train that could beat airliners from one side of the country to the other. Many agree that Maglev has enormous potential. Bite-sized examples are in operation all over the world. Birmingham, England, had the first in the 1980s, though the promise of airliner-like speeds on land is still unrealized. The British system sped along at a pathetic 26MPH and was designed to get air travelers to the planes, not to outrun them.'"
Yes, it's dirt-cheap and will mobilize people throughout the developing world. And that is exactly why it poses a threat to the environment and global energy supplies.
Browse this week's Wired.com gadget reviews for an 11.2 surround sound receiver, a music player that carries recommendation radio, the ultimate in desktop speakers and more of the latest tech.
mitbeaver writes "I'm planning a round-the-world trip. 6+ months in developing countries, including Everest base camps 1 & 2, the deserts of Namibia and lots of places in between. I want to bring something to write (blogs or the Great American Novel) and burn DVD photo backups to mail home. I don't really need much in the way of power, but I do need it to survive the altitude, dust, moisture of tropical locations, and being hauled around non-stop for the better part of a year. I will be carrying my life in my backpack, so every pound counts. It looks like some 'semi-rugged' ultraportables exist, but the truly 'rugged' are all pretty heavy. These are pricey, and the risk of theft is non trivial. A smaller laptop is easier to keep on my person more often, which is safer (in most countries) than leaving it in the hostel/hotel. Still, the rugged guys are 2x the price — almost worth buying a cheap one and planning an on the road replacement purchase. I know we've talked about gadgets to carry around the world before, but any advice would be greatly appreciated." We also discussed laptop travel cases a little more than a year ago.
bendodge writes to mention the BBC is reporting that researchers at the University of Tucson, Arizona have created a polymer that allows holographic images to be created in minutes. Normally holographic images are created by mixing the results of multiple laser lights to lay down a static image, a lengthy and delicate process. "In a paper in Nature Mr Tay and colleagues describe their thin-film polymer that can have images 'written' to it in minutes and can be wiped as quickly to take and display another image. The material has been shown to stay stable throughout hundreds of write and erase cycles. The ability to quickly refresh images in holographs could mean that surgeons use them as a guide during operations or as a better way for pharmaceutical researchers to study molecular interactions for new drugs during simulations."
krasmussen writes "After Monday's injunction on Danish ISP Tele2 to block access to The Pirate Bay, the company has now decided to take the case further in court. 'We do not like being put in a role where we as ISP have to regulate people's freedom of speech' says Nicholai Pfeiffer, regulatory manager i Telenor, which owns Tele2. However, because the current ruling against Tele2 still stands, the customers are not going to regain access to The Pirate Bay at the moment."
Reservoir Hill writes "Antarctica claims some of the best astronomical sky conditions in the world — devoid of clouds with steady air that makes for clear viewing. The very best conditions unfortunately lie deep in the interior on a high-altitude plateau called Dome A. With an elevation of up to 4,093m, it's known as the most unapproachable point in the earth's southernmost region. Now astronomers in a Chinese scientific expedition have set up an experimental observatory at Dome A after lugging their equipment across Antarctica with the help of Australia and the US. The observatory will hunt for alien planets, while also measuring the observing conditions at the site to see if it is worth trying to build bigger observatories there. The observatory is automated, pointing its telescopes on its own while astronomers monitor its progress from other locations around the world via satellite link. PLATO is powered by a gas generator, and has a 4000-litre tank of jet fuel to keep it running through the winter. The observatory will search for planets around other stars using an array of four 14.5-centimetre telescopes called the Chinese Small Telescope Array (CSTAR). Astronomers hope to return in 2009 with new instruments, including the Antarctica Schmidt Telescopes (AST-3), a trio of telescopes with 0.5-metre mirrors, which will be more sensitive to planets than CSTAR."
Stephen Scott plays the piano from the inside out. For his compositions, Scott and nine other musicians use homemade bows, popsicle sticks, tongue depressors, guitar picks, rubber plumbing tape, and other materials to manipulate the strings under the lid of the piano. They never touch the keys. National Public Radio's Morning Edition profiled Scott yesterday. The NPR site also features audio and video of Scott and his Bowed Piano Ensemble. I listened to the music first and it reminded me of the trance-inducing minimalism of Steve Reich. Turns out, Scott cites Reich as a big influence and studied music with him in Ghana. From the feature (photo by Peter Savage):
To get a sense of what the bowed piano is, imagine a grand piano with the lid lifted off. Ten musicians crowd around, leaning over the innards of the instrument, like a team of surgeons performing an operation.
Scott says you won't find any traditional-looking bows — like the ones violinists use — in his ensemble.
"The primary sound is produced by a bow of nylon fish-line, which is rosined, and that's just threaded under the piano string and across it. There's another kind of bow, which is a stick of wood which has horse hair affixed to it, and that's rubbed against the strings to produce a short, percussive sound."
The mainstream media buzzed yesterday with reports that scientists created a human embryo from three parents, a man and two women. According to the scientific journal Nature's online news site, those experiments at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne have been blown a bit out of proportion. Even still, their success so far does boggle the mind. From Nature News:
The experiments aim to replace genetically damaged structures called mitochondria, found in a woman's egg cells, with healthy mitochondria from unrelated eggs. The experiment has been mooted as a way to help women with diseased mitochondria have healthy babies.
Their work so far has reportedly created ten viable embryos containing genetic material from multiple 'parents'. But these resulted from transplants of DNA between embryos, rather than into a healthy egg as will be needed in future; it is not clear that the procedure will work in normally fertilized eggs.
The team says the progress confirms their hope that nuclear DNA can be taken out of embryos while leaving most, but not all, of the mitochondria behind — a step that will be needed in future for the procedure...
So far, (neurogeneticist Patrick Chinnery) Chinnery said, the Newcastle team has only exchanged the nuclear DNA of embryos that have failed fertility treatments. In other words, it has transplanted nuclear DNA from one failed embryo to another — not from one embryo into a healthy donor egg, as has been widely reported. These failed embryos contain abnormal doses of nuclear DNA...
"There are still a number of scientific issues we've got to resolve, in terms of efficiency, and in terms of whether we can do this in eggs rather than in other embryos," Chinnery said.
# Don't be afraid to hook up with a cute spaceman. We love Leela on Futurama not just because she's the only person on her ship with any kind of sense, but because she also lets her long, purple hair down once in a while. She's always tangling with spacemen and getting mixed up with strange alien pets. And that's one good reason why her goofy crew would follow her to the ends of the galaxy -- well, if she had enough beer. Lesson learned? A good leader has to get laid once in a while, and she shouldn't be ashamed of it.
But guess who made the costume? The exceedingly talented artisan Lionel, whose work was featured in two Boing Boing tv episodes about furries:
To get a sense of what the bowed piano is, imagine a grand piano with the lid lifted off. Ten musicians crowd around, leaning over the innards of the instrument, like a team of surgeons performing an operation.
