Videos
Podcasts
Blogs
Quizzes
GamesArchive for April, 2011
Well, this video is just lovely.
It was filmed by photographer Terje Sorgjerd April 4th through the 11th at the Canary Islands — on top of El Teide, Spain’s highest mountain. While Sorgjerd was there, a sandstorm hit, which probably wasn’t at all comfortable for him, but certainly made for some golden pictures …
A pair of studies recently featured in Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) journals are, I think, a bit creepy. First up is a study the findings of which are so intuitive I find it a tad nerve-wracking that the researchers managed to get the funding to conduct it, let alone get it published. [...]
Can electric shocks to your brain make you a better gamer?
by Jonathan Strickland | April 19, 2011
As I was scanning the news in the tech world, my eyes caught sight of a story I couldn’t pass up. It was on msnbc.com and it focused on a study conducted by our friends at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). They took a group of willing volunteers, attached some wires to the volunteers’ craniums and then zapped them with two milliamps of electricity. The volunteers played a game used by soldiers to train for combat.
Teen parents are more likely to produce boys while middle-aged parents are more like to produce girls. Satoshi Kanazawa over at Psychology Today breaks down this pattern by the numbers and comes up with a couple stunning observations:
How Nothing Works – A fascinating look at the science of nothing
by Marshall Brain | April 19, 2011
What is nothing, and how does it work? This documentary provides a fascinating look at Nothing, along with a scientific history lesson into the discovery of and experimentation with Nothing. It starts with the creation of the first vacuum and advances all the way to quantum fluctuations that spontaneously create and destroy particles and anti-particles [...]
News here out of the science world — apparently the date of the Last Supper, the final meal Jesus took with his disciples before he was crucified, is wrong. Professor Colin Humphreys, a scientist at the University of Cambridge, claims that the actual date was the Wednesday before the crucifixion took place, not the Thursday before. Turns out that the four Gospels – Matthew, Mark, Luke and John have never been on the same page in the Bible about the date.
How Bonsai works – growing tiny trees that are beautiful
by Marshall Brain | April 19, 2011
Last weekend, Irena and I were driving home from a math fair. We spotted a guy with a van selling Bonsai trees on the side of the road, and decided to stop and take a look. He had specimens ranging from 3 years old to 35 years old, and they were beautiful. Most of them [...]
At many restaurants you find that container on the table – it holds little packets of sugar along with little packets of artificial sweeteners. And anyone who is on a diet is familiar with artificial sweeteners – they are a big part of the dieting scene because they make low-calorie soft drinks and desserts possible. [...]
Gigantic New SuperOrganism with ‘Social Intelligence’ is Devouring the Titanic (Today’s Most Popular) – “In 2000, Roy Cullimore, a microbial ecologist and Charles Pellegrino, scientist and author of Ghosts of the Titanic discovered that the Titanic –which sank in the Atlantic Ocean 97 years ago — was being devoured by a monster microbial industrial complex [...]
There are a few ways an organic object can become preserved way beyond the normal time it takes for similar material to normally decompose. For a bone surrounded by sediment, the marrow and other organic material within the bone decomposes and is replaced by microscopic minerals. The structure of the bone holds its shape, but the bone essentially turns into a fossil rock from the inside out.
Recent Postings by Category
BrainStuff
- Thank You and Best Wishes to Marshall Brain
- Contest – Design a $300 house and win $25,000
- How the Philtrum works – the place under your nose where your face comes together
The Coolest Stuff on the Planet
- Have a Coke and a Smile
- The Latest in Frugal Lodging: Camping in Somebody Else’s Backyard
- The Painted Beauties of Bucovina
Keep Asking
- Why can a 5 foot 8 inch man dunk a basketball on a 10 foot rim while some people of taller stature can’t?
- What happens to our sun once it runs out of fuel?
- How do we know the age of the universe?
Stuff Mom Never Told You
- Who invented the Christmas card?
- How the Kinsey Report Fueled Whiskey Sales
- How to Get Your Wedding Announcement into The New York Times
Stuff to Blow Your Mind
- Space Music: DJ Food and ‘The Search Engine’
- Stuff to Blow Your Mind: Hug it Out
- Space Music: Jay-Z and Beyoncé to Film Music Video in Orbit
Stuff You Should Know
- The Southern Death Cult, the Maya and Georgia
- Deformed Baby Spider Brains
- Amazing Medical Conditions: Maple Syrup Urine Disorder
The Stuff of Genius
CarStuff
- Why is NASA studying car safety?
- Tips for in-car Navigation Systems
- Tips for Using Bluetooth in the Car
How-to Stuff
- How to Swim with Dolphins (When Deep Water Terrifies You)
- How to Cure a Homemade Cookie Craving Without Turning on the Oven
- How to Know When It’s Time for a New Pet
PopStuff
- PopStuff Show Notes: Episode 36: Now Available in 3-D
- PopStuff Show Notes: Episode 35: Let’s do brunch!
- PopStuff Show Notes: Episode 34: Play it again, Sam
Stuff They Don't Want You To Know
Stuff to Change the World
- Who will own the Arctic?
- Obesity: The New Global Crisis
- Bill Gates Makes For A Pretty Decent Cartoon
Stuff You Missed in History Class
- Butch Cassidy: Should we read between the lines?
- Are we rooting for D.B. Cooper?
- Party Time: A Look at Unconventional Politics
