Cascadia: The West Coast Fault Line That Is “Nine Months Pregnant” – “Ever since the massive 9.0 magnitude earthquake struck Japan, I’ve been thinking a lot about my friends in Oregon. Why? Because the impending “Big One” that Californians are nervous about is actually a lot more likely to occur off the coast of Oregon—and would be an even “Bigger One” there….”

See This Earthquake Ravaged Japanese Highway Rebuilt in Three Days – “These two photos show the same stretch of road—the Great Kanto branch—three days apart. By March 16th, just three days after the earthquake tore it apart, the road was rebuilt to the condition seen in the photo….”

Color, A Twitter For Photo And Video, Launches With $41 Million – “Color, a new photo-centric social network, will launch on March 24 with a big slug of venture money and an app available from iTunes or the Android Market in the U.S., Europe and Asia. The Palo Alto, Calif. startup was created last summer by a group of seven Silicon Valley veterans led by Bill Nguyen (rhymes with win), who sold his last company Lala.com to Apple for an estimated $80 million. Nguyen hired a dozen or so engineers from Google, Facebook and LinkedIn, came up with a business plan around virtual currency, discarded that, came up with a wild new idea, bought the color.com domain name for $350,000 and raised $9 million from Bain Capital and $25 million Sequoia Capital, two very elite VC firms–all in a span of 7 months (plus $7 million in loans from Silicon Valley Bank), before ever launching a single product….” See also: What Color Will Need to Win Us Over: Creativity

So you want to send a message into space? Here’s how. – “If you want to try transmitting messages at higher ends of the spectrum, try broadcasting at the frequency 1420 megahertz. This is the frequency at which hydrogen vibrates. Not every society is going to have a base ten number system. Not every civilization is going to use certain frequencies for cell phones, and not every song will sound the same through a different atmosphere. But it’s unlikely that whatever corner of the universe the signal ends up in will have a more basic atom than hydrogen. This is the way to get a civilization to notice you…..”

AT&T’s takeover of T-Mobile USA would damage mobile-phone choice. It should be stopped – “BEWARE of habitual monopolists bearing gifts—especially if they operate in shamefully uncompetitive markets. AT&T’s proposed $39 billion takeover of T-Mobile USA would create a dominant mobile-phone operator, with a 39% market share in America, and a near-duopoly with Verizon, the current market leader: together their combined share would be 70%. It is a mark of the mess that the United States has made of telecoms not just that such a deal is being considered, but also that a duopoly might actually bring genuine short-term benefits. All the same, it would be far better if the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the Department of Justice blocked the T-Mobile merger—and tried to reform the market instead….”

Stuck Pipe Kept Shear Rams From Sealing BP Well, Report Says – “A section of pipe on BP Plc’s Gulf of Mexico well became trapped and prevented blades from cutting the pipe to stop the flow of oil, triggering the biggest U.S. offshore spill, according to a study released by the Interior Department and U.S. Coast Guard….”

Another Oil Spill Hits the Gulf of Mexico – “The Gulf of Mexico can’t catch a break. Just a few short months after everyone (except Gulf Coast residents) forgot entirely about the BP spill, it gets hit with another one! Yes, a 30-mile oil slick has been spreading across the Gulf, right near Louisiana’s Grand Isle, which was one of the hardest-hit places during that last spill. And since folks hardly seem to remember the BP spill itself, they’re even less likely to remember that the AP discovered tens of thousands of unproducing wells — like the one that’s gushing out oil now — many of which were improperly sealed, and were accidents waiting to happen. Well, looky here….”

Cheap catalyst made easy – “Catalysts made of carbon nanotubes dipped in a polymer solution equal the energy output and otherwise outperform platinum catalysts in fuel cells, a team of Case Western Reserve University engineers has found. The researchers are certain that they’ll be able to boost the power output and maintain the other advantages by matching the best nanotube layout and type of polymer….”

A History Of Graphic Design [INFOGRAPHIC]

Infographic of the Day: What’s Your “Water Footprint”?

10 Weird Forms of Human Transportation

Eythor Bender demos human exoskeletons

The World’s 18 Strangest Dams – “Whether its builder is a beaver or a person, a dam is always used for the same purpose: to manage, direct and prevent water flow. Within that definition, there are many different types of dams, from mammoth hydroelectric generators—which produce 20 percent of the worlds’ electricity energy and 88 percent of all renewable electricity—to the small sand dams of Kenya that are designed to store water for the dry season. There an estimated 845,000 dams in the world; here are our picks for the 18 strangest….”

10 Riskiest Nuclear Power Plants in America – “As we watch the continuing catastrophe in Japan unfold with no clear expectations of the outcome, one thing is for certain: The safety of nuclear power has become a hot topic of conversation. While some countries are shutting down plants, many other are reevaluating the safety of theirs and strategizing over future plans….”

Analysts: Gas Prices Could Bring Economic Recovery To A Halt – “Just when it looked like people were more willing to spend money again on non-essential items—and on more essential (but deferrable) purchases like new cars—rising prices at the pump could grind some aspects of economic recovery to a halt…”

How Manhattan’s Grid Grew – “In 1811, John Randel created a proposed street grid of Manhattan. Compare his map, along with other historic information, to modern-day Manhattan….”

An Elegant Multiverse? Professor Brian Greene Considers the Possibilities – “You might think it’s hard to have a conversation with theoretical physicist Brian Greene. His research specialty is superstring theory, the hypothesis that everything in the universe is made up of miniscule, vibrating strands of energy. Luckily for an interviewer, Greene has a knack for explaining difficult concepts to non-scientists….”

Invisible Milky Way Satellite Uncovered With Help from NERSC – “Astronomers predict that large spiral galaxies, like our Milky Way, have hundreds of satellite galaxies orbiting around them. While a few satellites are visible, like the Magellanic Clouds, many other galaxies are too dim to see. Scientists suspect that these faint satellite galaxies are primarily comprised of mysterious “dark matter,” which makes up 85 percent of all matter in the universe and so far remains undetected….”

The New York Times’ $50 Million Paywall Crumbles With Simple Code Exploit – “Want to stay up-to-date with The New York Times? It used to be as simple as keying up nytimes.com. Today though, with a new “paywall” that denies access to new stories to non-subscribers, avid news junkies far and wide are facing a future where information comes at an increasingly high price. In fact, the Times is counting on that very outcome, and they’ve spent as much as $50 million building their online subscription package, according to Bloomberg….”

Genius at work: 12-year-old is studying at IUPUI – “For three straight days, his little brain buzzed with mathematical functions. From within his 12-year-old, mildly autistic mind, there gradually flowed long strings of pluses, minuses, funky letters and upside-down triangles — a tapestry of complicated symbols that few can understand….”

Quantum physics explanation for smell gains traction – “The theory that our sense of smell has its basis in quantum physics events is gaining traction, say researchers. The idea remains controversial, but scientists reporting at the American Physical Society meeting in Dallas, US, are slowly unpicking how it could work….”

Porpoise, Stranded by Japan’s Tsunami, Rescued from Rice Paddy – “Animal shelter owner Ryo Taira has seen plenty of struggling dogs and cats since the devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan, but even he was caught off guard when he learned of a small porpoise in big trouble…”

Is that Bigfoot? North Carolina man swears he spotted creature; experts doubt his claims – “”As I filmed it crossing the road it turned its head towards me and snarled or growled at me as it ran across the road,” he posted on hubpages.com. “It was truly one of the most amazing sites I have ever seen.”…”

Poll: Is It Too Late for the Nintendo 3DS? – “The Nintendo 3DS could mark the resurrection of Nintendo’s portable gaming platform. It has certainly reviewed well. PCMag called the 3D “innovative and convincing.” I was pleasantly surprised when I tried out the augmented reality. It will launch with over a dozen games and I’m sure more are to come. This device could be big. Or it could be a big dud. …”

[[[Interesting Reading #712 – Artificial cloud, Electronic wallets, Superfast batteries, dieting anger explained and much more!]]]

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