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I grew up loving haunted houses and mad science laboratories, so I’m not sure I can fully express out INTO the idea of vat-grown organs I really am. It’s pretty much the most mad sciencey thing imaginable, short of actually creating a monster or sewing Ray Milland’s head onto Rosey Grier’s body. And on a realistic note, sure, we’d all like to grow our crops of spare guts to replace our failing organs. But when will it be possible? As Julie and I explore in this episode of Stuff to Blow Your Mind, the day is fast approaching.
In August, I’m going to ride a horse through this place. Red sandstone rock formations, reaching 300 feet for the azure sky. One-thousand-year-old twisted juniper trees. And — evidently — ants that gorge themselves on honey (says Frommer’s).
The Colorado park is 1,300 acres, saved for future generations by a man named Charles Elliot Perkins, president of the Burlington Railroad, who bought up the land in the late 1800s for a summer home and then just let it be.
Discovery Communications, LLC (as our parent company prefers to be formally known) is all about employee and community enrichment stuff. Which is awesome. But, it also often entails additional *work* for us employees. Last week, for example, we participated in our annual Discover Your Impact Day, during which thousands of us headed out of the office to perform some volunteer goodness. (And by goodness I mean intense manual labor.) In my case, that time was spent sprucing up a local park … Hit the jump to hear about it.
How Martin Van Buren Made Fashion History
by Cristen Conger | June 21, 2011
If we rewind history and trace back to when the “male dress code” emerged, men clearly paid much attention to wardrobe choice and what messages their clothing communicated to others. But at one point in the mid-1800s, the only wardrobe message that mattered was whether men mirrored the heterosexual standard that eschewed any embellishment that would be considered effeminate.
This installment of Mind-Blowing Video is going to be all over the place, so BEAR WITH ME and for Carl‘s sake don’t play them all at once. First up, let’s hit the trailer for the best nature documentary you probably never saw. Why? Because when France’s 1999 film “Microcosmos” traveled to the US, distributes went with this horrible promotion art instead of the original. Hey, “A Bug’s Life” was doing big business, so why WOULDN’T you repackage the film with a cheesy shot of a mantis in shades?
While studying up for the Stuff Mom Never Told You episode on men and makeup, I stumbled across the Men’s Dress Reform Party (MDRP), a London group started in 1929 that advocated for the adoption of “brighter, more hygienic, and picturesque attire” for the male dresser. Just as women’s groups had revolted against excessive undergarments, long skirting and generally restrictive clothing, the MDRP also wished to shed requisite suiting, stiff collars and neckties they considered unhealthy and downright uncomfortable.
There is a guy, a man who went to school and figured out how to get paid to analyze and write about gladiatorial combat that took place two thousand years ago, give or take a couple centuries. This man, Michael Carter, a professor of history at Brock College in St. Catherine’s, Canada, recently reached what may prove the be the apex of his career, at least as far as popular culture is concerned.
If so, DARPA and NASA would like to hear from you. These organizations have numerous experts working with them on any number of endeavors, but they’re asking for outside help tackling the next big question: How can we create a spaceship (and a society) capable of surviving a 100-year-long journey into space? If you have [...]
Today is Discover Your Impact Day, the companywide volunteer day at Discovery Communications and HowStuffWorks. Discovery employees across the globe are abandoning their offices and pitching in on a variety of service projects around their communities. If Discovery left volunteering up their employees, I wondered whether more women or men might participate. Chances are, altruistic [...]
If you watch “Game of Thrones,” then there’s a pretty good chance that your jaw’s still on the floor after the last episode’s extremely shocking twist.
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
