Google uncloaks once-secret server – “Most companies buy servers from the likes of Dell, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, or Sun Microsystems. But Google, which has hundreds of thousands of servers and considers running them part of its core expertise, designs and builds its own. Ben Jai, who designed many of Google’s servers, unveiled a modern Google server before the hungry eyes of a technically sophisticated audience…”

5 Most Beautiful Cars of 09 – One of which a normal person can actually afford!

Concrete Is Remixed With Environment in Mind – “Concrete may seem an unlikely material for scientific advances. At its most basic, a block of concrete is something like a fruitcake, but even more leaden and often just as unloved. The fruit in the mix is coarse aggregate, usually crushed rock. Fine aggregate, usually sand, is a major component as well. Add water and something to help bind it all together — eggs in a fruitcake, Portland cement in concrete — mix well, pour into a form and let sit for decades…”

Aircraft could be brought down by DIY ‘E-bombs’ – ELECTROMAGNETIC pulse weapons capable of frying the electronics in civil airliners can be built using information and components available on the net, warn counterterrorism analysts…”

Monsanto GM-corn harvest fails massively in South Africa – “South African farmers suffered millions of dollars in lost income when 82,000 hectares of genetically-manipulated corn (maize) failed to produce hardly any seeds.The plants look lush and healthy from the outside. Monsanto has offered compensation…”

California schools’ risks rise as vaccinations drop – “A Times analysis finds hundreds of campuses, which tend to be in more affluent areas, at risk for childhood disease outbreaks. Parents seem to fear shots more than mumps or measles…”

Recovered ship of Blackbeard unveils treasure – “In a recently recovered ship of the well-known 18th century pirate Blackbeard, archaeologists have discovered a treasure trove of artifacts…”

How our obsession with beauty is changing our kids – “Much has been made of the oversexualization of today’s tweens. But what hasn’t been discussed is what we might call their “diva-ization”—before they even hit the tween years. Consider this: according to a NEWSWEEK examination of the most common beauty trends, by the time your 10-year-old is 50, she’ll have spent nearly $300,000 on just her hair and face. It’s not that women haven’t always been slaves to their appearance; as Yeats wrote, “To be born woman is to know … that we must labour to be beautiful.” But today’s girls are getting caught up in the beauty maintenance game at ages when they should be learning how to read—and long before their beauty needs enhancing. Twenty years ago, a second grader might have played clumsily with her mother’s lipstick, but she probably didn’t insist on carrying her own lip gloss to school…”

Wifely duties spark a firestorm – “Based on the bedroom revelations of 98 Australian couples over six to nine months, it has lifted the lid on the unspoken topic of men and women’s biologically mismatched sexual desire….”

If You Can Never Hear In An Airport, These FFL Loudspeakers May Help – “A groundbreaking new loudspeaker, less than 0.25mm thick, has been developed by University of Warwick engineers, it’s flat, flexible, could be hung on a wall like a picture, and its particular method of sound generation could make public announcements in places like passenger terminals clearer, crisper, and easier to hear…”

Should you worry about data rot? – “Data rot refers mainly to problems with the medium on which information is stored. Over time, things like temperature, humidity, exposure to light, being stored not-very-good locations like moldy basements, make this information very difficult to read…”

The 6 Most Important Factors when Choosing a Power Supply – ““Which power supply do I need?” “What should I look for?” Have you ever asked yourself these questions? Many of you did ask me for some help regarding power supplies, so here we go!”

Incredible Floating Pools – “You would think that floating on a raft in a serene body of water would be enough – a pool, a lake, even the lazy river at your local water park. For some, however, the vast ocean simply wasn’t cutting it. Instead, they designed gigantic floating pools. Floating in what you ask? They’re floating in water, of course…”

Preponderance of Positrons Points to Dark Matter – “An orbiting observatory may have found the first indirect evidence of dark matter particles colliding in space and disappearing, as if in a puff of smoke…”

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