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Step right up and behold a marvel of 18th century robotics! See the Jacques de Vaucanson’s fabulous digesting duck, the clockwork miracle capable of reproducing the biological miracles of ingestion, digestion and defecation! In this episode of Stuff to Blow Your Mind, Julie and I dive into the history books for more on how the pooping duck may have worked and just what it’s creator was thinking. Plus, you’ll learn about the nightmarish cloaca bot.
To quote esteemed mad scientist Seth Brundle, “Insects don’t have politics.” Theirs is a world of intricate brutality and wasps have been excelling in it for more than a hundred million years. This latest example comes to us in this paper from France’s CNRS (Délégation Paris Michel-Ange) and it concerns a wasp that not only hatches from its egg inside the belly of a ladybug, but upon emerging forces its eviscerated host to guard its cocoon while it transitions from larva to full-grown horror wasp.
My wife audibly rolled her eyes during the trailer for the upcoming “Cowboys & Aliens” sci-fi flick and after reading an essay in Journal of American Culture by Patricia Felisa Barbeito, I have to admit my head’s spinning a bit at the way this particular cultural fear loops back to the American West.
As I discuss in the HSW article “What Are UFO’s Really” (and this accompanying Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast episode), aliens are ultimately a kind of cultural sock puppet that our mind sheaths over the sort of extraordinary experiences that rock our world views out of whack.
Isang Litrong Liwanag (in English, the phrase means “A Liter of Light”) is a Philippines-based organization aiming to build indoor lighting in one million homes throughout the country by 2012. Ambitious plans are par for the course when it comes to humanitarian efforts, but this group is a little bit different. They’re not installing electrical outlets or building [...]
There’s a certain cereal that — well, for more than 75 years — has claimed it is THE breakfast of champions. Since I don’t know that I’ve ever eaten that particular kind of cereal, I can’t really comment on its claim. But what I can comment on is what I think is the BRUNCH of champions. More after the jump.
On Friday, Chicago’s newest tourist attraction was unveiled on the Magnificent Mile — a 26-foot-tall, aluminum and steel sculpture of Marilyn Monroe. The sculpture, created by artist Seward Johnson, captures a familiar Marilyn moment: She stands over a subway grate, and a gust of wind from the speeding train below whips up her pearly-white skirt, revealing her legs.
Only this sculpture reveals a whole lot more.
I’m sure a fair number of you have already seen “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2,” but if you have yet to say farewell to the Boy Who Lived, there’s a slew of articles, slideshows and interviews hitting the Internet today that should help you put off the inevitable for just a while [...]
Strapping all your stuff to your back and then drudging with it through the wilderness is kind of painful. What you need is a llama.
Not only will it lend you inner peace with its soulful llama presence, it will carry your things on its back — be those things a cooler of marinating steaks, a camping grill and a bottle of wine for dinner, or a tent and sleeping bag for a four-night long camping trip.
In the last few weeks, we’ve seen a number of GOP presidential hopefuls sign all manner of pledges regarding tax increases, the federal budget, marriage, sexuality, religion and reproductive rights. All this in the midst of a final space shuttle mission and the James Webb Telescope’s likely death at the hands of Congress. So what about an “In Defense of Science Pledge” for U.S. elected officials? I think it might go something like this:
Even if you’re not a fan of the message, you have to hand it to Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, the ad firm behind the latest marketing “Got Milk?” marketing campaign: they’ve got a lot of people buzzing about milk. Granted, it’s an angry buzz, akin to a swarm of killer wasps. This time around, the California Milk Processor Board is urging men to bring home milk to soothe their female partner’s horrifying PMS symptoms.
And the Internet ain’t happy at the overtly sexist tone. There’s even an online petition to end the campaign. I could do without the lame marketing as well, but what I really want to know is: Does milk cure PMS? Is there some science among the sexism?
In short, yes. Women should already get around 1,000 to 1,200 milligrams of calcium daily to reduce their risk of osteoporosis, although medical experts disagree on just how much is appropriate.
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
